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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Page last updated - 16 Sep 2009