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:
Rank Name Term began Term ended Commander-in-Chief, Australia Station Commodore William Loring 26 March 1859 10 March 1860 Commodore Beauchamp Seymour, CB 10 March 1860 21 July 1862 Commodore William Burnett, CB 21 July 1862 7 February 1863 Commodore Sir William Wiseman, Bt. CB 20 April 1863 23 May 1866 Commodore Rochfort Maguire 23 May 1866 28 May 1867 Commodore Rowley Lambert, CB 28 May 1867 8 April 1870 Commodore Frederick Stirling 8 April 1870 22 May 1873 Commodore James Goodenough, CB, CMG 22 May 1873 20 August 1875 Commodore Anthony Hoskins, CB 7 September 1875 12 September 1878 Commodore John Wilson 12 September 1878 21 January 1882 Commodore James Erskine 21 January 1882 12 November 1884 Rear Admiral Sir George Tryon, KCB 12 November 1884 1 February 1887 Rear Admiral Henry Fairfax 1 February 1887 10 September 1889 Rear Admiral The Hon. Lord Charles Scott, CB 10 September 1889 12 September 1892 Rear Admiral Nathaniel Bowden-Smith 12 September 1892 1 November 1894 Rear Admiral Cyprian Bridge 1 November 1894 1 November 1897 Rear Admiral Hugo Pearson 1 November 1898 1 October 1900 Rear Admiral Lewis Beaumont 1 October 1900 16 January 1903 Vice Admiral Sir Arthur Fanshawe, KCMG 16 January 1903 10 September 1905 Vice Admiral Sir Wilmot Fawkes, KCB, KCVO 10 September 1905 31 December 1907 Vice Admiral Sir Richard Poore, Bt. KCB, CVO 31 December 1907 31 December 1910 Vice Admiral Sir George King-Hall, KCB, CVO 31 December 1910 23 June 1913
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.