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| Captain Stirling returned the same year to take up his grant of 100,000 acres plus any livestock remaining from his previous visit. He renamed it Garden Island and the first settlement of 450 people was named Sulpher Town. Sulpher Bay and Careening Bay were important anchorage and cargo disembarkation points for ships until ] when ] inner harbour was completed. | Captain Stirling returned the same year to take up his grant of 100,000 acres plus any livestock remaining from his previous visit. He renamed it Garden Island and the first settlement of 450 people was named Sulpher Town. Sulpher Bay and Careening Bay were important anchorage and cargo disembarkation points for ships until ] when ] inner harbour was completed. | ||
| In ] Peet & Co subdivided 83 blocks in Careening Bay. After ] it became a holiday resort with wooden cottages erected in the bay. During ] gun batteries were located on Garden Island and the secret unit (Z-Force) operated and trained there for their clandestine raids against the ]. Following the war it became a holiday resort again and the home of the RAN Reserve Fleet. | In ] Peet & Co subdivided 83 blocks in Careening Bay. After ] it became a holiday resort with wooden cottages erected in the bay. During ] gun batteries were located on Garden Island and the secret unit (Z-Force) operated and trained there for their clandestine raids against the ]ese. Following the war it became a holiday resort again and the home of the RAN Reserve Fleet. | ||
| In ] a feasibility study was began into establishment of a naval support facility on the island, and in ] it was endorsed by the Federal Government. Construction of the 4.3 km causeway began in ] and completed in ]. The Naval Support Facility was completed in ] and ] formally commissioned in the same year. HMAS Stirling is at present home to six frigates and all submarines of the Australian Submarine Squadron which has its headquarters located at the base. A Clearance Diving Team is another of the units based at HMAS Stirling, which also has substantial training facilities. | In ] a feasibility study was began into establishment of a naval support facility on the island, and in ] it was endorsed by the Federal Government. Construction of the 4.3 km causeway began in ] and completed in ]. The Naval Support Facility was completed in ] and ] formally commissioned in the same year. HMAS Stirling is at present home to six frigates and all submarines of the Australian Submarine Squadron which has its headquarters located at the base. A Clearance Diving Team is another of the units based at HMAS Stirling, which also has substantial training facilities. | ||
Revision as of 15:11, 21 November 2003
Note: There is another Australian Garden Island, in Sydney, New South Wales. See Garden Island, Sydney.
Garden Island is in Western Australia. The Royal Australian Navy's largest fleet base, also known as "Fleet Base West", is located on the shores of Careening Bay, on the southeastern section of Garden Island, facing Cockburn Sound.
Garden Island is about 5km offshore and is a slender island about 10 km long and 1.5 km wide. At the end of the last ice age, the sea level rose, cutting the island off from the mainland. For the last 7 thousand years the island has existed in relative isolation.
Originally named Isle Buache by the French in 1801, Garden Island was first settled by Capt. James Stirling in 1827 who "prepared a garden and released a cow, two ewes and three goats in a area of good pasture with good water supply".
Captain Stirling returned the same year to take up his grant of 100,000 acres plus any livestock remaining from his previous visit. He renamed it Garden Island and the first settlement of 450 people was named Sulpher Town. Sulpher Bay and Careening Bay were important anchorage and cargo disembarkation points for ships until 1897 when Fremantle inner harbour was completed.
In 1907 Peet & Co subdivided 83 blocks in Careening Bay. After World War I it became a holiday resort with wooden cottages erected in the bay. During World War II gun batteries were located on Garden Island and the secret unit (Z-Force) operated and trained there for their clandestine raids against the Japanese. Following the war it became a holiday resort again and the home of the RAN Reserve Fleet.
In 1966 a feasibility study was began into establishment of a naval support facility on the island, and in 1969 it was endorsed by the Federal Government. Construction of the 4.3 km causeway began in 1971 and completed in 1973. The Naval Support Facility was completed in 1978 and HMAS Stirling formally commissioned in the same year. HMAS Stirling is at present home to six frigates and all submarines of the Australian Submarine Squadron which has its headquarters located at the base. A Clearance Diving Team is another of the units based at HMAS Stirling, which also has substantial training facilities.
Since completion of the facility, public access to the island has been restricted to daylight hours, and those areas open to the public are only accessible by sea via private boat under curfew conditions.