HMAS NIRIMBA was commissioned at Quakers Hill, Sydney, under the command of CAPT D. Sanderson, DSC, RN, as the RAN Fleet Air Arm’s second Naval Air Station. The Naval Air Station was closed in 1954 due to budget cuts, but the base was soon transformed into the RAN Apprentice Training Establishment, (RANATE), and retained the name NIRIMBA, which is aboriginal for pelican.