Biloela House
In contrast to Charles Ormsby's modest home, Gother Kerr Mann's was the grandest
on the island. Looking east, rather than towards the prison precinct, it's outlook
represents the growing significance of the Cockatoo dockyard, of which Mann
was Chief Engineer.
This dramatic change took place about 1860 when Mann moved from nearby Greenwich.
With a large family of unmarried sons and daughters, Mann lived here until 1871.
A fashionable tennis-court was added later.
Biloela House was 'thoroughly renovated' in 1898 and transformed into a barracks
for unmarried prison warders. The corrugated iron roof was added at this time.
In 2010 the grounds were replanted in a style appropriate to one of Sydney's
rare surviving harbour villas.