The Harbour Trust is responsible for protecting and managing some of the most historically significant foreshore sites in Sydney Harbour.
Harbour Trust faced a significant challenge in interpreting Cockatoo Island/Wareamah, a UNESCO World Heritage site with a complex, multi-layered history spanning convict punishment, industrial shipbuilding, First Nations and broad cultural significance.
Art of Multimedia was commissioned to develop a digital storytelling ecosystem that elevates Cockatoo Island’s self-guided interpretation by
- Helping visitors navigate the vast, convoluted site with multiple distinct locations.
- Connecting emotionally with diverse stories spanning over 150 years of history.
- Making empty industrial spaces come alive with the human experiences that once filled them.
- Engaging visitors with personal, intimate stories that create understanding and lasting impact.
Highly Commended – Education & Interpretation
2026 National Trust Heritage Awards
Bespoke Audio Tour Application
Working in close collaboration with Harbour Trust curator and team, we created a bespoke web-based application that offers the visitor:
- Effortless Access: A simple QR code scan directs visitors to select and purchase tours, available for use within 24 hours with no app downloads required.
- GPS-Enabled Navigation: Seamlessly guides visitors through the complex site, using their own device.
- Three Immersive Tours: Cockatoo's Convicts, Sandstone to Steel, and How to Build a Ship Tour.
- 76 Minutes of Rich Content: Each tour features 10-13 carefully crafted stories combining expressive narration, directional guidance, and authentic soundscapes.
- Professional Characterisation: Skilled voice actors bring historical figures and soundscapes to life through scripted re-enactments based on archival research.
For the Harbour Trust staff, it delivers:
- Flexible Scalability: A user-friendly content management system allows new tours to be added as they are developed.
- Tour Management: Tours can be managed on demand for special events and temporary programming.
- Data-Driven Insights: Comprehensive reporting and visitor feedback guide future development.
- Revenue Generation: Tour sales contribute to ongoing heritage management and site conservation.
Cockatoo Island Fight Club
This animated film transports audiences to the 1850s, bringing to life the illicit boxing matches that captivated everyone from staff and convicts to "gentlemen of the colony." Through lively characterised narration and dynamic illustrations, this engaging film tells the story of the legendary bout between John Perry, the 'Black Sailor,' and Irish fighter Patrick 'Paddy' Sinclair—both skilled pugilists serving time on the island.
Inspired by the 1858 Report from the Board of Inquiry in the Management of Cockatoo Island, the film provides an entertaining entry point into the corruption within the convict system and the surprising sporting culture that flourished even within prison confines.
The Apprentices
This film captures the experiences of thousands of young men who worked as apprentices during the 1950s, 60s and 70s, many continuing their careers on the island long after training ended. This poignant 9-minute documentary weaves archival footage with intimate interviews from three former workers who began as teenage apprentices.
The film traverses the complete emotional landscape of industrial life—from light-hearted teenage mischief to workplace camaraderie, shipbuilding innovation and excellence, sobering workplace realities, and the bittersweet closure of an era.
Launched in July 2025, visitors can now experience Cockatoo Island's rich heritage through these immersive self-guided tours and films. The island awaits—ready to share its stories with generations of explorers.
This project helps Harbour Trust transform Cockatoo Island from a collection of historical buildings into an embodied narrative experience. Visitors now journey through time via intimate audio storytelling that connects them emotionally with the diverse experiences of convicts, guards and management, young people being reformed and educated, apprentices and skilled shipbuilders, who shaped the island's legacy.
The digital ecosystem ensures the island's stories remain accessible and engaging while providing the Harbour Trust with the tools to continue expanding and refining its interpretation.
The vendor is professional, creative, great at communication, tech savvy and demonstrates strong project management. They are easy to work with and communicated the brief we gave them perfectly though high quality film and audio products which have been well received by our audiences. The end-of-project documentation, product manual and in-person training were fantastic.
Nerida Campbell
Head of Curatorial, Research and Production, Harbour Trust, Harbour Trust
Interpretive outcomes achieved
Visitor feedback demonstrates we've achieved our core interpretive objectives - creating understanding, fostering emotional connection, and making heritage personally meaningful:
- Understanding historical experience: "Wonderful - learnt a lot and slept on convict bed", "10/10, as expected. Good length of time and detail" "Excellent. Fascinating audio. Really brought the island's history to life"
- Emotional engagement across historical distance: "Awesome! I would have braved the sharks too" "Brilliant! Such a good tour"
- Accessible to diverse audiences: "It was fun for the whole family”
- Successful integration of interpretation and visitor experience: "Good number of stops, good price and app was easy to use”
Visitor engagement and reach
Launched after a rigorous two-month testing period, the tours achieved immediate traction with diverse audiences. Six months after launch:
- 97% visitor satisfaction maintained (80% five-star, 17% four-star ratings)
- 21.5% opted into communications about future interpretation, demonstrating an appetite for ongoing engagement with the island's heritage
The Convicts tour emerged as the flagship experience (64% of visitor engagement), while Sandstone to Steel showed particularly strong interest, with 27.6% of visitors requesting information about future heritage interpretation offerings.
These numbers demonstrate that the interpretation successfully reaches and engages diverse audiences while maintaining the accessibility and quality essential for effective heritage communication.
