- Author
- Hunt, A.L.
- Subjects
- History - general
- Tags
-
- RAN Ships
- None noted.
- Publication
- September 1997 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
In September 1903 the Government agreed to the construction of a new jetty alongside the boat pound holding the Captain’s barge and there exist splendid photographs taken in 1909 of the site and the then resident Captain Napier’s boat.
Royal Australian Navy
In the first decade of Federation there was a complex debate involving the fledgling Commonwealth Government, the NSW Government, the Admiralty and the Imperial Defence Committee concerning maritime defence of Australia. As a consequence there was heated local discussion between the State and Commonwealth authorities over ownership of naval properties as and when the new Royal Australian Navy took responsibility from the Admiralty.
On 13 June, 1913 there was agreement that New South Wales would acquire the various properties, including Tresco, from the Admiralty with an assessed value on which the Commonwealth Government was to pay an annual interest. Despite this agreement debate continued, war intervened, and it was not unit) 30 September, 1920, that the Commonwealth Gazette published that the Governor-General in Council had approved the acquisition by the Commonwealth of the parcel of land situated at Elizabeth Bay, Sydney, in the State of New South Wales and known as “Tresco”. The conveyance of freehold from the Macarthur-Onslow family marked the final link with Alexander Macleay.
When the Royal Navy withdrew from the Australian Station in 1914 the then Captain Superintendent Sydney (Captain, later Commodore, C. F. Henderson RN) became the senior naval officer ashore. With Admiralty House transferring to the Commonwealth Government as the Sydney residence for the Governor-General, Tresco became the senior naval residence in the city.
In 1915 the Naval Works Department completed drawings of the site which show that the previous Coach House and Stable had been converted into a servant’s hall and wash house/laundry with a garage.
A number of distinguished Captains and their families resided in the house during the between-war years including J. B. Stevenson CMG RAN, whose son Captain J. P. Stevenson RAN Ret’d. fondly recollects living there as a boy. There exist some splendid photographs of the interior taken by the celebrated Sydney photographer Harold Cazneaux in February 1933.
Wartime
At the outbreak of war in 1939 the resident Superintendent was Captain J. W. A. Waller RN who was relieved in April 1940 by Captain G. C. Muirhead-Gould DSC RN. As activities developed he became, progressively, Commodore-in-Charge and Flag Officer-in-Charge (as a/Rear Admiral) Sydney and Principal Sea Transport Officer. He held this role until September 1944.
During those four years the Admiral was intimately involved in the immense challenges and changes brought by World War. Tresco regularly saw distinguished visitors from our Allied Forces. Of the many events of the period that are most clearly etched in history was the night of Sunday, 31 May, 1942. It was a full moon but overcast until the middle watch. A number of the Australian Squadron were in harbour, Canberra, Adelaide, Kanimbla, Westralia, and others including the depot ship Kuttabul. There were allies at buoys, notably USS Chicago, Perkins and Dobbin.
The Commanding Officer of Chicago, Captain Bode, was a dinner guest at Tresco and thereby with Admiral Muirhead-Gould when messages came through of unidentified entrants to the harbour from about 2000 to 2150. These were later affirmed as enemy midget submarines. Captain Bode left Tresco at 2220 with the intention of joining Perkins, the USN destroyer most ready for sea. FOIL Sydney authorised general alarm at 2227, ordering all ships to take anti submarine precautions. The subsequent actions are familiar to all, specifically the torpedo explosion beneath Kuttabul resulting in the loss of nineteen lives.
Muirhead-Gould was relieved temporarily by his Chief-of-Staff, Captain H. L. Howden OBE RAN, and then a/Rear Admiral G. D. Moore CBE became the longest serving resident of Tresco (1944-1950). He was relieved by Rear Admiral H. A. Showers CBE, the first graduate of the RAN College to occupy the post. By the end of WWII the task had expanded well beyond Sydney and in the post-war defence re-organisation was redefined as Flag Officer-in-Charge, East Australia Area (FOCICEA).
The House
As a naval residence the house held many fine paintings including four of the Philip Belbin seascapes commemorating the RAN’s 75th anniversary which were presented by members of the Sydney Royal Motor Yacht Clubs, good friends to the Navy. For many years the house was graced with a painting by the Dutchman Koek Koek, “Battle of St. Vincent” which was originally presented in 1890 to the Royal Naval Home, Sydney by Lord Carrington, 16th Governor of NSW. It moved to Tresco when “Johnnies” was wound up. There was a painting by G. F. Gregory of HMS Calliope escaping destruction in the 1889 hurricane off Samoa and a portrait of Captain Francis Hickson RN Rtd., through whose energies the local Volunteer Naval Brigade was formed in 1863 and who is reasonably considered to be the father of the Royal Australian Naval Reserves.