This paper was developed after locating a 1970 HMAS Cerberus Wardroom mess dinner menu. The menu included observations by prominent citizens about HMAS Cerberus and its location at Westernport amongst ...
Infrastructure and Facilities
Occasional Paper 28: Cockatoo Island – An Historical Account
Cockatoo Island has a long association with the RAN. The Island has World HeritageListing and some additional information can be found on our website at https://www.navyhistory.org.au/naval-heritage-sites/cockatoo-island. This article has been ...
Occasional Paper 24: Sydney Harbour Minefield
Through the Society’s relationship with the Australian National Maritime Museum, stories are shared between the two organizations. The following is an Article from ‘All Hands’ December 2017 edition, the Australian ...
Occasional Paper 193: The First Naval Dockyard of the Royal Australian Navy Cockatoo Island, Shipbuilding, 1870 to 1986
Cockatoo Island is the largest Island in Sydney Harbour and is located at the junction of the Parramatta and Lane Cove Rivers, about 3.7 km west of the Sydney Harbour ...
Occasional Paper 190: Captain Cook Graving Dock 80th Anniversary: Engineering and Art
By Lorraine Fildes and Colin Randall This paper was compiled to mark the 80th anniversary of the opening of the Captain Cook Graving Dock at Garden Island in Sydney Harbour ...
Occasional Paper 184: History of HMA Naval Dockyard, Williamstown.
With the discovery of gold in Victoria in the decade 1851-1861, the population increased sevenfold. The large fleet of vessels that brought these people into the Port of Melbourne overwhelmed ...
Occasional Paper 182: Scriven Battery
By Vic Jeffery This paper was first published in the West Coast Bulletin- August September, October 2001 edition. Garden Island in Western Australia enjoys a rich military history and during ...
Occasional Paper 178: A Short History of Building 6
John Jeremy Occasional Paper 165 told the story of the three-storey green building on the top of Cockatoo Island in Sydney, Building 10 — the Drawing Office building — and ...
Occasional Paper 177: Australia’s First Tennis Match
By Martin Linsley and Colin Randall. Sometime about now (late 2023 or early 2024) marks the 150th anniversary of someone playing the first game of tennis at some location in ...
Occasional Paper 174: The Queensland Fraser Coast and Royal Australian Navy Historical Ties
The Queensland Fraser Coast and Royal Australian Navy Historical Ties The Queensland Fraser Coast has a rich maritime history and a long and entwined history, first with the Queensland Maritime ...
Occasional Paper 173: HMAS Magnetic
When in Townsville, a stroll along The Strand is a must. A walkway starts at historic Jezzine Barracks and ends at the current ferry terminal. The path follows the line ...
Historic Cannons Guarding Hamilton; Rare Finds at Gregson Park
Those with $2.50 concession cards may recall making the most of their travel limits by having a comfortable day’s train outing from Sydney to Newcastle. Alas, Newcastle’s Central Railway Station ...
Occasional Paper 165: A short history of Building 10
by John Jeremy The designation ‘Building 10’ will be meaningless to most people, yet thousands will have seen this Building 10. It stands on the upper level of Cockatoo Island ...
Occasional Paper 166: A history of HMAS Waterhen
by CMDR Rick Westoby, OAM, RAN Past History of the Site The site of HMAS Waterhen, on the shoreline of Balls Head Bay, sits within the traditional land of ...
The Rapid Wartime Growth in Royal Australian Navy Shore Establishments
On Monday, 17 September 1945, the Cairns Post newspaper featured a lengthy coverage of the RAN’s shore establishments. This illuminating summary is reproduced below. How many of us can now ...
The Frigates that ‘did nothing in particular, and did it very well’ – with apologies to W.S. Gilbert.
By John Ingram Fifty years ago, the Whitlam Labor government cancelled the troubled Light Destroyer (DDL) project and set in place the acquisition of six patrol frigates of the Oliver ...
The Maritime Strategic Fleet Taskforce and its Implications for the RAN
The findings of a Maritime Strategic Fleet Taskforce may have a considerable bearing on the future of the impoverished Australian maritime industry and be of great benefit. As this may ...
Book Review: Portrait of a Working Dockyard
Portrait of a Working Dockyard. This photobook by Berylouise Mitchell comes in a limited edition, handmade in A4 landscape format by Australia’s premier photobook printer MomentoPro in Sydney and sells ...
The NSW Department of Main Roads (DMR) at War
By Rohan Goyne This story complements an article in the June 2022 edition of the Naval Historical Review concerning the wartime construction of airfields on Norfolk Island and New Caledonia. ...
The River Clyde: The cradle of British shipbuilding and the birthplace of the Royal Australian Navy
By CMDR Tony Vine RAN Rtd The River Clyde in Scotland has long been described as the cradle of the British shipbuilding industry and in 1909 it became the foundation ...
Occasional Paper 152: HMAS Rushcutter
On 1 August 1940, the Naval Depot (sited in Rushcutters Bay Park, Sydney) was commissioned as HMAS Rushcutter. This former Royal Australian Navy (RAN) base has an illustrious past. It ...
Occasional Paper 143: HMAS Adelaide: The Final Years in Neutral Bay
By John C. Jeremy, AM Vice President NHSA The archives of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron are extensive and contain a priceless collection of material relating to sailing and the ...
Remediation of the Australian Landing Helicopter Dock (ALHD) Propulsion Problems
By Phil Baldwin, CEng CMarEng FIMarEST Background In November 2007 the Australian Department of Defence procured two ALHDs through BAE Systems Australia. The platform was based on the Navantia (Spain) ...
Shipbuilding and the Australian Naval Shipbuilding College
A number of well-intentioned Government initiatives are not necessarily known in the wider community. In the case of the Naval Shipbuilding College this is a pity, as this organisation has ...
Occasional Paper 170: The Eight Inch Gun Relining Programme
June 1982 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved) When the Second World War broke out the RAN possessed two 10,000 ton County class cruisers armed with BL ...