Garden Island (Western Australia)

Garden Island is a slender island about ten kilometres long and one and a half kilometres wide, lying about five kilometres off the Western Australian coast.(coord|32|11|36|S|115|40|16|E|type:isle_region:AU)

Like Rottnest Island and Carnac Island, it is a limestone outcrop covered by a thin layer of sand accumulated during an era of lowered sea levels. [cite web |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Geography |work= |publisher=Rottnest Island Authority |date=2005 |url=http://www.rottnestisland.com/en/Education+and+Environment/Geography+highlights+inner.htm |format= |doi= |accessdate=2006-11-05] The Noongar Indigenous Australians tell of walking to these islands in their Dreamtime.

At the end of the last ice age, the sea level rose, cutting the island off from the mainland. For the last seven thousand years the island has existed in relative isolation.

The Royal Australian Navy's largest fleet base, Fleet Base West, and HMAS "Stirling", [cite web|url=http://www.navy.gov.au/HMAS_Stirling|title=RAN website on HMAS Stirling] are located on the shores of Careening Bay, on the southeastern section of Garden Island, facing Cockburn Sound.

History

The island was marked but not named on Dutch maps in 1658, even though there were three Dutch ships in the area that year: the "Waekende Boey" under Captain S. Volckertszoon, the "Elburg" under Captain J. Peereboom and the "Emeloort" under Captain A. Joncke. However, it was outlined on the charts of the 'Southland', which were published after Willem de Vlamingh visited the region in 1697.

Jacques Felix Emmanuel, Baron Hamelin was the Captain of the "Naturaliste" one of three French ships that visited in 1801 to 1803. He named the island "Ile Buache" after Jean Nicolas Buache, a marine cartographer in Paris. The island was renamed "Garden Island" in 1827 by Captain James Stirling, who "prepared a garden and released a cow, two ewes and three goats in an area of good pasture with good water supply." It has been widely believed that Stirling chose the name "Garden Island" because he planted a garden there, but Statham-Drew (2003) notes that he used the name well before anything was planted there. She argues that it was so named because the shelter that it provides to Cockburn Sound was reminiscent of the way that the Isle of Wight, then known locally as the "Garden Isle", shelters the waters off Portsmouth.

Stirling returned to the area in 1829, claiming Garden Island as part of his grant of 100,000 acres (405 square kilometres), plus any livestock remaining from the previous visit. The first settlement of 450 people was named Sulphur Town. Sulphur Bay and Careening Bay were important anchorage and cargo disembarkation points for ships until 1897 when Fremantle's inner harbour was completed.

In 1907 Peet & Co subdivided eight-three blocks at Careening Bay. After World War I it became a holiday resort with wooden cottages erected at the bay. During World War II, gun batteries were located on Garden Island. These were part of an integrated coastal defence system for Fremantle Harbour facilities. 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.

Current use

In 1966, a feasibility study was begun into establishment of a naval support facility on the island, which was endorsed by the Federal Government in 1969. Construction of the convert|4.3|km|mi|adj=on Garden Island causeway began in 1971 and was completed in 1973. The facility was completed in 1978, and HMAS "Stirling" was formally commissioned as a unit of the Royal Australian Navy in the same year. "Stirling", also referred to as Fleet Base West, was developed further under the Two-Ocean Policy to become the main naval base on the west coast of Australia.

As of 2008, "Stirling" is home to six frigates and all submarines of the Australian Submarine Service, which is headquartered at the base. A Clearance Diving Team is also based at "Stirling".

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. The island is classified as an A-class reserve, and the Navy has undertaken various successful programmes for the removal of introduced animals; all native animals on the island are protected.

References

Further reading

*cite book|first=Pamela |last=Statham-Drew |year=2003 |title=James Stirling: Admiral and Founding Governor of Western Australia |publisher=University of Western Australia Press |location=Nedlands, Western Australia |id=ISBN 1-876268-94-8

External links

* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/stirling.htm Globalsecurity.org, 'Fleet Base']