Australia Station


The Australia Station was the British, and later Australian, naval command responsible for the waters around the Australian continent. Australia Station was under the command of the Commander-in-Chief, Australia Station, whose rank varied over time.

History

In the years following the establishment of the British colony of New South Wales in 1788, Royal Navy ships stationed in Australian waters formed part of the East Indies Squadron and came under the command of the East Indies Station. From the 1820s, a ship was sent annually to New South Wales, and occasionally to New Zealand.
In 1848, an Australian Division of the East Indies Station was established, and in 1859 the British Admiralty established an independent command, the Australia Station, under the command of a commodore who was assigned as Commander-in-Chief, Australia Station. The Australian Squadron was created to which British naval ships serving on the Australia Station were assigned. The changes were partially in recognition of the fact that a large part of the East Indies Station had been detached to Australian waters, and also reflecting growing concern for the strategic situation in the western Pacific in general, and in Tahiti and New Zealand in particular. In 1884, the commander of the Australia Station was upgraded to the rank of rear admiral.
At its establishment, the Australia Station encompassed Australia and New Zealand, with its eastern boundary including Samoa and Tonga, its western edge in the Indian Ocean, south of India and its southern edge defined by the Antarctic Circle. The boundaries were modified in 1864, 1872 and 1893. At its largest, the Australia Station reached from the Equator to the Antarctic in its greatest north-south axis, and covered a quarter of the Southern Hemisphere in its extreme east-west dimension, including Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Melanesia and Polynesia.
On 1 January 1901, Australia became a federation of six States, as the Commonwealth of Australia, which took over the defence forces from all the States. In March 1901, the Commonwealth took over the colonial navies to form the Commonwealth Naval Forces. The Australian and New Zealand governments agreed with the Imperial government to help fund the Royal Navy's Australian Squadron, while the Admiralty committed itself to maintain the Squadron at a constant strength. In 1902, the commander of the Australia Station was upgraded to the rank of vice admiral. The boundaries were again modified in 1908. On 10 July 1911, King George V granted the title of "Royal Australian Navy" to the CNF.
The Australian Squadron was disbanded in 1911 and the Australia Station passed to the Commonwealth Naval Forces. The Station was reduced to cover Australia and its island dependencies to the north and east, excluding New Zealand and its surrounds, which became part of the China Station and called the New Zealand Naval Forces. In 1913, the Royal Australian Navy came under Australian command, and responsibility for the reduced Australia Station passed to the new RAN. The Royal Navy's Australia Station ceased in 1913 and responsibility handed over to the Royal Australian Navy and its Sydney based depots, dockyards and structures were gifted to the Commonwealth of Australia. The Royal Navy continued to support the RAN and provided additional blue-water defence capability in the Pacific up to the early years of World War II.
In 1921, a separate New Zealand Station was established, and the New Zealand Naval Forces renamed the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy. In 1958, the Australia Station was redrawn again, now to include Papua New Guinea.

Commanders-in-Chief, Australia Station

The following is a list of the Royal Navy officers who occupied the post of Commander-in-Chief, Australia Station:

List of ships assigned to the Station

This is a list of ships that were assigned to the station between 1859 until 1913. The Australian Squadron was replaced by the Royal Australian Navy Fleet when it sailed into Sydney Harbour on 4 October 1913.
ShipDate joinedDate leftNotes
25 March 18591861Flagship between 25 March 1859 until 10 March 1860. Undertook operations during First Taranaki War in New Zealand.
25 March 18591860Undertook operations during First Taranaki War.
May 1859July 1862Flagship between 10 March 1859 until July 1862. Undertook operations during First Taranaki War.
30 October 185911 April 1863
1859May 1859Tender to Squadron.
1859December 1860Undertook operations during First Taranaki War.
18591860Undertook operations during First Taranaki War.
December 1860September 1864Participated in rescue operation when HMS Orpheus was wrecked in Manukau Harbour, New Zealand, and was also grounded but was refloated. Undertook operations during Invasion of Waikato and also the Tauranga Campaign in New Zealand.
December 1860September 1864Undertook operations during Invasion of Waikato and also the Tauranga Campaign in New Zealand.
March 18621863
July 18627 February 1863Flagship between July 1862 until 7 February 1863. Was wrecked in Manukau Harbour with the loss of 189 seaman including Commander-in-chief, Australia Station Commodore William Farquharson Burnett. 70 crewman survived.
September 18621880Jointly owned by Royal Navy and Colony of South Australia until purchased outright by South Australia in 1880. Conducted survey operations around Northern Australia.
November 18621866Undertook operations during Invasion of Waikato and also the Tauranga Campaign.
20 April 18631866Flagship from 20 April 1863 until May 1866. Undertook operations during Invasion of Waikato and also the Tauranga Campaign.
June 18631864Conducted survey operations of Botany Bay, Moreton Bay and Brisbane River.
July 18632 July 1867Undertook operations during Invasion of Waikato and also the Tauranga Campaign.
December 1863November 1867Undertook operations during Invasion of Waikato and also the Tauranga Campaign.
February 18644 July 1867Conducted survey operations along Great Barrier Reef and between Wilsons Promontory and Port Phillip Bay.
October 18641868Provided escort for operations during Second Taranaki War, New Zealand.
May 18661870Flagship between May 1866 and 3 September 1870. Conducted a punitive operation in 1866 against some Fijian natives.
30 November 186628 June 1871Conducted survey operations along Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Norfolk Island and New Zealand.
March 1867November 1868
November 18671875Undertook anti-blackbirding operations in the South Pacific.
January 18681875Undertook a punitive operation in 1869 against some Solomon Islands natives. Conducted survey operations of Rabaul Harbour.
17 April 187016 October 1873Flagship between 3 September 1870 and 17 September 1873. Ran into a reef and holed in Bligh Sound, New Zealand, in 1871 and repaired.
March 18711874Undertook survey operations around Eastern New Guinea, under the command of Captain John Moresby. Undertook anti-blackbirding operations in the South Pacific.
September 1871October 1873
18711875Ran aground at Hobart, Tasmania in 1875 but was refloated.
22 May 18731875Flagship from 17 September 1873 until 7 September 1875. Commander-in-chief Commodore James Graham Goodenough and two sailors died from poisonous arrows fired by natives from Santa Cruz Islands in 1875.
August 18731882Built by John Cuthbert, Sydney. Undertook anti-blackbirding operations in the South Pacific. In 1879 undertook punitive operation in against some Soloman Islands natives.
18731882Built in Sydney as Ethel. Undertook survey operations around Fiji and Soloman Islands. Sold to Colony of New South Wales and served as a powder hulk.
1873March 1883Built by John Cuthbert, Darling Harbour, Sydney. Undertook anti-blackbirding operations in the South Pacific. In 1879 undertook punitive operation against some Solomon Islands natives.
1873March 1883Built by John Cuthbert, Sydney. Undertook anti-blackbirding operations in the South Pacific. Undertook survey operations around Fiji and Russell Islands.
18731883Built by John Cuthbert, Sydney. Undertook anti-blackbirding operations in the South Pacific. Undertook survey operations around Soloman Islands and New Guinea. Commanding officer, Lieutenant Bower, and three sailors were killed by natives on Mandolina Island, near Guadacanal.
August 1874July 1866Participated in Samoan Operations in 1866.
December 1874August 1878
March 1875November 1878
March 1875July 1879
7 September 1875January 1882Flagship from 7 September 1875 until 21 January 1882. Sold to Colony of New South Wales and served as a training ship.
September 1878October 1881Took punitive action against natives who killed commander of HMS Sandfly.
18781882Took punitive action against natives who killed commander of HMS Sandfly.
1878August 1880
September 1880May 1886
18801882
18801886Undertook survey work along North West Australia. She was sold in 1887 to the Colony of Western Australia.
October 1881August 1888
November 1881March 1885
21 January 18823 September 1888Flagship from 21 January 1882 until 1888.
18821886
25 April 1883October 1890
September 18831888
September 18831888
2 October 1883August 1891
18831904
18841895Built for Colony of Queensland, she was commissioned in Royal Navy on loan. She was returned to Queensland in 1895 and renamed HMQS Paluma.
14 March 18851888Undertook surveys along the North of Australia, Darwin and Bass Strait.
March 188511 May 1890
July 18861 December 1897
18861866
September 1887October 1889Participated in the 1889 Samoan conflict.
18871894She undertook survey work around Western Pacific islands and Hobart.
May 1888June 1899Sent to the Gilbert Islands and on 27 May 1892 the islands were proclaimed to be a British protectorate. Participated in the 1899 Samoan civil war.
1 September 18881898Flagship from 1 September 1888 until November 1897.
January 18891904Participated during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900.
October 18891890She undertook survey work along North Western coast of Australia.
14 January 18901888She undertook survey work around Western Pacific islands, New Zealand and Great Barrier Reef. She was transferred for harbour service at Sydney before being commissioned into the RAN as HMAS Penguin a depot ship.
18 March 18901905Part of the auxiliary squadron.
March 1890August 1899
18901891During practice firing one of her guns burst killing five sailors on 28 June 1891.
1890December 1894Sent to the Ellice Islands and between 9 and 16 October 1892 made a formal declaration on each island that it was to be a British protectorate.
27 January 18911904Part of the auxiliary squadron. Participated in the 1899 Samoan civil war.
3 February 18911904Grounded on a reef at Malekula Island, New Hebrides on 31 August 1894 and was towed off by a French warship. Part of the auxiliary squadron.
24 March 1891January 1906Part of the auxiliary squadron.
31 March 1891January 1906Part of the auxiliary squadron. Participated during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. One of her boilers exploded on 7 January 1904 killing 4 sailors.
18911904
18911903
1891February 1901
November 189429 January 1905
18951900
February 18971913
4 November 18971888Flagship from 4 November 1897 until April 1904.
December 18971900Escorted New South Wales Naval Brigade to China during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900.
December 1897June 1901Participated in the 1899 Samoan civil war.
1900December 1901
19 February 190123 December 1905
February 19011904Later commissioned in New Zealand Marine Department as training ship NZS Amokura in 1905
22 September 19031913Was later commissioned in RAN in 1915 as HMAS Psyche.
December 1903February 1905
19 January 190414 April 1905
13 April 1904May 1905
July 19041905Flagship between 26 March 1904 and February 1905.
19041912
February 1905December 1911Flagship from 1905–1911.
March 1905March 1913
16 September 19051913She grounded on a reef near Cooktown on 22 June 1907 and was refloated.
Pioneer September 19051 March 1913Commissioned as HMAS Pioneer in 1913.
December 190521 June 1912Commissioned as HMAS Encounter on 1 July 1912.
19051913Flagship between January and October 1913, the last flagship of Australia Station
19051913
19061913Undertook survey work along the North and Eastern coasts of Australia and New Guinea.
19101913Undertook survey work in the Torres Strait and Solomon Islands.
30 November 19111 January 1913Flagship between 1911 and 1 January 1913.

Citations