Fort Denison

at , Sydney , 2000 Australia

1. Historical Place

Description

Fort Denison is a former penal site and defensive facility occupying a small island located north-east of the Royal Botanic Gardens and about one kilometre east of the Opera House in Sydney Harbour, New South Wales, Australia. The island is also known as Pinchgut Island.HistoryPrior to European settlement, the island had the Eora name Mat-te-wan-ye (sometimes Mallee’wonya). After the First Fleet arrived in 1788, Governor Phillip and his advocate-general used the name Rock Island. In 1788, a convict named Thomas Hill was sentenced to a week on bread and water in irons there, after a time the island came to be known as Pinchgut. Once a 15-metre(49 ft)-high or higher sandstone islet, the rock was levelled by convicts under the command of Captain George Barney, the civil engineer for the colony, who quarried it for sandstone to construct nearby Circular Quay.In late 1796 the Governor had installed a gibbet on Pinchgut. A convict to be hanged and then gibbeted there was Francis Morgan. In 1793, the British transported him to New South Wales for life as punishment for a murder.The authorities in NSW executed Morgan for bashing Simon Raven to death in Sydney on 18 October 1796. On the 30th November 1796, Morgan was hung for the brutal murder of Simon Raven. Following his execution his body was hung in chains (gibbeting) on Pinchgut. His skeleton was still hanging there four years after his execution. He said to the hangman that the only thing worth mentioning was the superb view of the harbour from his high elevation, and that he was sure there were no waters the world over to compare with it for beauty.

Specialities

Price category

$$ (10-30)

Company Rating

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Summary

Fort Denison is Sydney based place and this enity listed in Historical Place category. 2000. Contact phone number of Fort Denison: (02) 9358 1999