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You are here: Home / Article topics / Publications / Naval Historical Review / Navy’s First Ship to Become City’s Hovermarine Terminal

Navy’s First Ship to Become City’s Hovermarine Terminal

A.N. Other · Sep 24, 1974 · Print This Page

Author
A.N. Other
Subjects
None noted
Tags
Memorial
RAN Ships
HMAS Parramatta I
Publication
September 1974 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)

Parramatta was being stripped before being towed to sea as a gunnery target when the State Government conceived the idea of using her and her sister ship Swan as accommodation ships for convicts from Long Bay Gaol engaged in building roads in the Kuring-gai Chase north of Sydney.

Some modifications to the hulls were made at Cockatoo Docks and then the vessels were towed up the Hawkesbury River and moored in Jerusalem Bay. Before the prisoners could be transferred to their new homes the government fell and a Labor Government, led by Mr. Jack Lang came to power. Mr. Lang immediately scrapped the plan thundering “Convict ships had been abolished in New South Wales and they were not being re-introduced in my time”.

Artist’s sketch of Parramatta’s proposed Hovermarine Terminal embodying stem and stern of HMAS Parramatta I

In 1930, the two vessels were auctioned and both vessels were knocked down to Mr. Rhoades who operated a boatshed in Jerusalem Bay for £24. Mr. Rhoades planned to convert the ships into holiday flats for fishermen, but the plan was vetoed by the Kuringai  Trust. In the next few years the ships changed hands a number of times and were employed for some time as gravel barges in the construction of buildings at Peat Island and the Hawkesbury River Bridge.

An agreement was reached with Cockatoo Docks in 1935 to break up the ships and a tug was despatched to the Hawkesbury to tow them back. To economise it was decided to tow in tandem and as the vessels were nearing the railway bridge a southerly buster struck and the tow broke. Swan was swept up stream and foundered near the entrance to Jerusalem Bay.

Parramatta was driven ashore on Milson Island. A week later another strong blow carried the old ship across the river to her last resting place at the foot of a 300 foot cliff. Ownership of the vessel changed hands again and the hulk was converted into a reservoir. Water was fed into the ship from a nearby waterfall and pumped to homes along the riverbank. In the immediate postwar years the midships section was cut up for scrap, but problems associated with burning galvanised steel proved a problem. Three plans were initiated to preserve the old ship. The first in 1932 was sponsored by former members of the ship’s complement. The second in 1958 was put forward by the Naval Association. Neither plan advanced far and were soon forgotten. In 1970, the Naval Historical Society proposed to the Naval Board that suitable sections of the destroyer be recovered and erected in a suitable site as a memorial.

Later in the year a feasibility study was made by the Navy of the hulk and it was reported that the bow and stern section could be salvaged although the cost of doing so would be high. The Navy took no further interest in the project.

In 1973, the Society proposed to Parramatta City Council the salvage of the bow and stern of Parramatta and their erection in Parramatta as a memorial to all ships to bear the name. A public meeting was held in April at which the Mayor of Parramatta addressed the audience and a resolution was passed in favour of the proposal.

The two sections of the ship were salvaged in July-August, 1973, and transported to Parramatta by land and sea.

A contract was let to Clasp (Aust.) Pty. Ltd. to produce a design incorporating the sections of the ship into a combined memorial-hovermarine wharf. The final plans for the project were approved by the Council in July, 1974, and hopes are high that the memorial wharf will be ready for unveiling by the Chairman of the Combined Chiefs of Staff Committee, Admiral Sir Victor Smith, towards the end of this year.

Naval Historical Review Memorial

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