The Larrikins of Lavender Bay
The Story of the Phoenix Hulk
Author:
Beverley Earnshaw
ISBN: 0 9593925 21
Publisher: North Shore Historical Society
Address: PO Box 325, Cammeray, NSW, 2062
Another interesting episode in the convict history of
Australia, "The Larrikins of Lavender Bay" documents the story
of the Phoenix Hulk. Commonly used in England to supplement
prison accommodation, hulks in Australia's prison history are
not so well known. This is the story of the only prison hulk
ever to operate on the Australian mainland. It anchored off
the shores of Lavender Bay for eleven years from 1826.
Hulks did not seem a likely solution to the overcrowding in
Sydney's prisons at the beginning of last century. Any ship
which had been condemned overseas would never make the trip.
But just as prison accommodation was reaching crisis point,
the Phoenix ran aground on the Sow & Pigs Reef just inside
the harbour entrance.
There she remained stuck for 24 hours. The survey found her
damaged beyond repair and thus she was to finish her days as
home to three categories of prisoner, all of them male - those
en route to penal settlements elsewhere in the colony, those
in a "weakly" state and witnesses waiting to testify in
criminal cases.
As with all prisons, the Phoenix had its share of drama,
ruining some men's lives in scandals of mismanagement,
bolstering the careers of others, and of course was a home of
discontent for prisoners and the location of many unsuccessful
and some successful escapes.
Charles Sculthorpe was an escapee who was never returned to
the hulk. Whether he made it remains a mystery. Only his leg
irons were found after he jumped from the hulk to swim to
shore.
In the early hours of June 1837, she started taking water.
Although sinking was avoided it spelt the beginning of the end
and the following year the Phoenix was decommissioned and sold
for scrap. She was the first and last hulk to house prisoners
in Australia.
"The Larrikins of Lavender Bay" is a well researched and
interesting record of a little known part of Australia's
convict history.
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