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You are here: Home / Naval Heritage Sites / Garden Island NSW / 1900 – 1939

Garden Island NSW1900 – 1939

· Aug 14, 2017 ·

Initially, church services were held in the Spar Shed dining room, but with increasing people living on the island, there was a need for larger premises.   A New Chapel was established in a portion of the little used Sail Loft in the Rigging House.  This came into use in 1902, able to cater for 400 people.

Chapel Exterior

At the other end of the Rigging House, a Detention Centre was completed in 1905, able to handle 20 defaulters.   As Church Parade was compulsory at that time, special arrangements were made to accommodate the defaulters at Sunday services.    A special gallery was built along the dividing wall of the Chapel keeping them separate from the other attendees.  Full details of this beautiful Chapel can be seen in the Society’s Heritage Tour DVD – see the shop for details.

GI goal

A signal Station was erected in 1902 on the northern hill when daytime signalling was by Semaphore, replaced at night by a masthead light.  The station was then expanded in 1910 to handle wireless transmissions from a 71metre high mast.   A third, larger station was added in 1923, and a weather station added in 1931.   That building is still there today and the mast is now outside the Australian National Maritime Museum.

Signal Station established 1902

1901 – 1913

Federation saw the colonial navies of South Australia, Victoria, NSW and Queensland amalgamated into the Commonwealth Navy.   Following Royal Assent in 1911, the Commonwealth Navy became the Royal Australian Navy.   The Royal Navy still continued to operate from Garden Island until 1913, when the first ships of the RAN arrived in Sydney

HRH King George V RAN Assent

The Fleet consisted of the flagship HMAS Australia, accompanied by three cruisers, Melbourne, Sydney and Encounter, plus three torpedo boat destroyers, Parramatta, Warrego and Yarra.   The Royal Navy control of the Garden Island facilities then transferred  the RAN and Garden island became the base for the RAN, the role it still has today.

Welcome to the fleet

WORLD WAR 1

Garden Island was very busy throughout World War 1, fitting out and arming around 80 troopships and transports.   Service facilities were also provided for some 850 visits from ships from the Royal Australian Navy, the Royal Navy and those from France and Japan.  The Naval Depot worked in conjunction with facilities available an Cockatoo Island.

GI as an Island

The years between World war 1 and 2 saw reductions in both ships and manpower, but as war clouds began to again arise, new ships were added and Garden Island’s facilities were reviewed for increased support services.   One major problem was that of docking and handling gun turrets on big warships.    When such facilities were needed, a 12-day voyage was required to visit the larger dock in Singapore.

So the decision was taken to build a new Australian Graving Dock capable of handling the biggest vessels of the time –  two Cunard liners, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth and the King George V Class Battleships.   After viewing some 37 sites around Australia, the decision was taken in 1939 were considered, finally narrowed down to build a massive new dock east of the Harbour Bridge, by reclaiming part of the harbour between Garden Island and Potts Point.

 

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Garden Island NSW

  • 1788 – 1856
  • 1857 – 1899
  • 1900 – 1939
  • 1940 – Today

Additional reading for Garden Island

  • Throwing a Party: The Naval Ball of 1899
  • A Tribute to Norman Rivett
  • Trouble with the Neighbours
  • The HMAS Parramatta Memorials
  • Kings Cross in World War II
  • Occasional Paper 70: The Ship’s Garden – GARDEN ISLAND
  • Occasional Paper 69: The Naval Garden on Garden Island, Sydney
  • Harry’s Café de Wheels
  • Letter: Villers Bretonneux Museum - Garden Island Dockyard crest
  • Garden Island Rangefinding
  • Ready to Serve
  • Naval Fuel Oil
  • Weather Signals
  • Our First Gardeners
  • Letter: The Hammerhead Lives
  • Peter Hibbs Remembered
  • Tales from the Dockyard - Lawrence Beare Westaway
  • Letter: The Hammerhead Crane
  • HMS Penguin (VII) and her 64 Pounder Gun
  • The Hammerhead Crane
  • Memories of a Garden Island Patternmaker
  • General Managers of Garden Island Dockyard
  • Garden Island and Cruise Ships
  • Letter: Garden Island Chapel
  • Tales from the Dockyard: The Silver Docket
  • Tales from the Dockyard: Dan Craig's Medal
  • Tales from the Dockyard: ‘Ingenuity Rules’
  • Periscope Repair - Defects by Fin, Friend, and Feather
  • Edward Albert Amphlett - Paymaster RN
  • Portuguese Carronades - 16th Century Explorers to Australia?
  • Garden Island - The Barracks Building
  • History of the "Consuela" Figurehead at Garden Island
  • Garden Island Rock Carvings - The Forgotten Men
  • FFG5 Builds in Two Dockyards 600 Miles Apart
  • The Chequered Career of HMAS Penguin
  • Garden Island Dockyard 1943-46
  • The RAN in Antarctic Waters
  • The Tower Building at Garden Island
View more links

World & National Heritage Sites

  • Cockatoo Island
  • HMAS Sydney II and the HSK Kormoran Shipwreck Sites
  • HMVS Cerberus

Commonwealth Heritage Sites

  • Chowder Bay Naval Facilities
  • Royal Australian Naval Transmitting Station ACT
  • Royal Australian Naval College ACT
  • Garden Island WA
  • Naval Offices QLD
  • HMAS Cerberus
  • Admiralty House, Garden and Fortifications
  • Beecroft Peninsula NSW
  • Spectacle Island Explosives Complex NSW
  • HMAS Penguin
  • HMAS Watson

The NHSA acknowledges support provided by the Australian Department of Environment and Energy which made these pages possible.
Greater detail on building history, the natural and Indigenous significance to these sites is available by accessing the National Heritage List.

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