On This Day

1850-1899 > Colonial Navies & RN

November 25, 1899

The Naval Brigade from HMS POWERFUL, a flagship of the Australia Station, fought in the Battle of Graspan against the Boers in South Africa.

June 28, 1899

HMS PIONEER, (3rd class cruiser), later HMAS PIONEER, was launched at Chatham, England.

January 7, 1899

VADM Sir John Collins, KBE, CB, was born at Deloraine, TAS.

April 28, 1898

HMVS NELSON was decommissioned and sold out of service.

February 2, 1898

CAPT R. P. Minifie, DSC and two Bars, an Australian who served with the RNAS, was born in Melbourne. Minifie was Australia’s youngest air ace of the First World War, being credited with shooting down 21 enemy aircraft.

November 1, 1897

RADM Hugo L. Pearson, RN, was appointed Flag Officer Commanding the Australia Station. His flagship was HMS ROYAL ARTHUR.

October 15, 1897

The NSW Naval Brigade, commanded by CAPT Hixson, carried out gunfiring exercises at Port Macquarie, NSW.

September 5, 1896

The Government of New South Wales handed over the Garden Island Naval Base to the Admiralty.

April 16, 1895

The RN Depot at Circular Quay, Sydney, was transferred to Garden Island.

November 1, 1894

RADM Cyprian A. G. Bridge, RN, was appointed Flag Officer Commanding the Australia Station. His flagship was HMS ORLANDO.

June 22, 1893

VADM Sir George Tryon, a former Flag Officer Commanding Australia Station, lost his life when his flagship, HMS VICTORIA, was rammed by HMS CAMPERDOWN, off Tripoli, Syria. Tryon was found to be at fault.

February 19, 1893

HMQS PALUMA, (gunboat), floated free from Brisbane Botanical Gardens after being stranded by record floods in the Brisbane River.

February 6, 1893

During a flood the gunboat HMQS PALUMA (CAPT G. Pirie, RN), the steamer ELIMANG, and the hulk MARY EVANS, were washed up high and dry in Brisbane’s Botanical Gardens. The same disastrous flood carried away three bridges across the Brisbane River and swept 12 other ships out to sea.

December 31, 1892

HMS WOLVERINE, training ship of the NSW Naval Brigade, was sold out of service.

September 30, 1892

The Queensland Navy vessel GAYUNDAH, (gunboat), was paid off and laid up in reserve at Brisbane. Her sister-ship PALUMA, joined her in 1895.

September 12, 1892

RADM Nathaniel Bowden-Smith was appointed Flag Officer Commanding Australia Station. His flagship was HMS ORLANDO.

July 30, 1891

HMS HIMALAYA, (troopship), arrived at Port Jackson with relief crews for ships on the Australia Station. HIMALAYA was a steamship built for the P&O Line in 1853. She was chartered by the Admiralty as a troop transport during the Crimean War, and later purchased. Commissioned into the RN, she was employed as a troop ship for over 30 years. The vessel was paid off in 1894 and used as a coal hulk until sunk by German bombers in 1940.

April 1, 1891

The Auxiliary Squadron, consisting of HM Ships WALLAROO, MILDURA, and RINGAROOMA, (cruisers), and KARRAKATTA, (torpedo gunboat), in commission, and with HM Ships KATOOMBA, and TAURANGA, (cruisers), and BOOMERANG, (torpedo gunboat), in reserve, commenced operations in Australasian waters. The squadron was in addition to the Imperial Squadron based in Sydney. All six Australian States and New Zealand contributed to the upkeep of the Auxiliary Squadron on a population basis.

February 11, 1891

The Clipper ship SOBRAON was purchased by the NSW Government as a replacement for the boys’ training ship VERNON. The vessel was commissioned into the RAN as HMAS TINGIRA in 1912.

September 25, 1890

Royal Naval House, Sydney, was officially opened by His Excellency, Lord Carrington, Governor of NSW.

February 26, 1890

HM Ships DART and PALUMA surveyed waters off Cape York, QLD.

September 10, 1889

RADM the Rt. Hon Lord Charles T. M. D. Scott, CB, was appointed Flag Officer Commanding the Australia Station. His flagship was HMS ORLANDO.

June 30, 1889

The fleet of the State of Victoria consisted of HMV Ships NELSON, (cut-down 1st rate); CERBERUS, (turret ship); BATMAN, and FAWKNER, (armed auxiliaries); CHILDERS, NEPEAN, and LONSDALE, (torpedo boats); VICTORIA, and ALBERT, (gunboats); GORDON, COMMISSIONER, and LION, (torpedo launches); GANNET, (armed tug); and LADY LOCH, (armed auxiliary).

May 25, 1889

The foundation stone of the Royal Naval House, Sydney, ‘Johnnie’s’, was laid by Lady Carrington.

April 4, 1889

HMS CALLIOPE, (corvette), returned to Sydney after surviving a hurricane at Apia, Samoa.