Exhibition of The Boys from Cockatoo by Bill Nix
Sydney artist Bill Nix clearly has fond memories of an earlier career when he worked in the shipbuilding yard on Sydney's Cockatoo Island.
'The Boys from Cockatoo : Paintings by Bill Nix'
Australian National Maritime Museum
His new exhibition at the Australian National Maritime Museum, from 17 September - 2 November 2008titled The Boys from Cockatoo, recalls the people with whom he worked on the island from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s.
And the 20 paintings, in oil and charcoal on canvas, chronicle the day-to-day routines of the dockyard prior to its closure in 1992.
Nix started his career on Cockatoo Island at 15 as a young errand boy and then as an apprentice machinist and fitter. He finished the apprenticeship in the engine drawing office and stayed on to became a draftsperson.
His uncle, a carpenter, and cousin, an electrical fitter, also worked on Cockatoo, adding to his sense of being part of the island's history... and this is something still close to his heart.
Nix says he has always painted, drawn and sculpted. He has enjoyed success as an artist. His work has appeared in the Blake Prize, the Jack Robert Drawing prize, Gallipoli Art Prize and North Sydney Art Show.
In 2002 he revisited his early career with a painting he titled The boys from Cockatoo. It showed a crowd of workers disembarking from a Sydney ferry for a day's work on the industrial island.
"That picture started me thinking," Nix says. "I considered I might be able to develop a series of 20 pictures on this theme. But the more I painted, the more the memories came flooding back, and I've ended up with 36 paintings and 20 drawings!"
His subjects are from his memories and they're engaged in all sorts of activities: being picked up, by ferry, at Birchgrove; receiving muster tags at the works gate; fitting an engine block on a Navy vessel; working in a blacksmith shop; attending a union meeting; serving lunch in the canteen; caretaking in the pattern shop.
"This exhibition isn't about me," says Nix. "It's about the workers on Cockatoo, and the wonderful expertise and skills they had. It's all about them." 
The Australian National Maritime Museum is open daily. Admission to its exhibitions, including The Boys from Cockatoo, is free; a small fee is charged to board and inspect the museum's ships. All inquiries (02) 9298 3777, or www.anmm.gov.au
by Australian National Maritime Museum 
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