Fort Denison

• Fort Denison was once a former penal site and defensive facility in Sydney Harbour, • The island is also known as Pinchgut Island. • Governor Phillip and his advocate-general used the name Rock Island as it once boasted a 15-metre high sandstone rock, • The island was levelled by prisoners under the command of Captain George Barney • Thomas Hill was a convict who was sentenced to a week living on bread and water after which the island became known as Pinchgut. • Original fortification of the island which was never completed began in 1841. Construction resumed in 1855 because of fear of a Russian naval attack during the Crimean War, and was completed on 14 November 1857. The newly-built fort then took its current name from Sir William Thomas Denison, the Governor of New South Wales from 1855 to 1861.