Henderson Naval Base

{{Short description|Never-completed naval base in Western Australia}} {{Use Australian English |date=July 2024}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox military installation | name = Henderson Naval Base | ensign = | ensign_size = | native_name = | partof =  | location = Jervoise Bay, south of [[Woodman Point]], [[Western Australia]] | nearest_town =  | country = [[Australia]] | image = File:Jervoise Bay Boat Harbour, September 2019 03.jpg | alt = | caption = Jervoise Bay Boat Harbour in 2019, proposed location of the Henderson Naval Base | image2 = | alt2 = | caption2 = Approximate location of the Henderson Naval Base Camp | type = | coordinates = {{coord|-32.143258|115.758450|type:landmark_region:AU|name=Jervoise Bay|display=inline, title}} | gridref = | image_map = | image_mapsize = | image_map_alt = | image_map_caption = | pushpin_map = | pushpin_mapsize = | pushpin_map_alt = | pushpin_map_caption = | pushpin_relief = | pushpin_image = | pushpin_label = | pushpin_label_position = | pushpin_mark = | pushpin_marksize = | ownership = [[Minister for Defence (Australia)|Minister for Defence]] | operator = [[Royal Australian Navy]] | controlledby =  | open_to_public = | site_other_label =  | site_other =  | site_area =  | code =  | built = {{Start date|1913}}−{{End date|1920}} | used = ''Never completed'' | builder = | materials = | height =  | length =  | fate =  | condition = | battles = | events = | current_commander =  | past_commanders =  | garrison =  | occupants =  | designations = | website = | footnotes =  }} '''Henderson Naval Base''' was a proposed and partially built naval base of the [[Royal Australian Navy]] south of [[Fremantle]], [[Western Australia]] in what is now the suburbs of [[Naval Base, Western Australia|Naval Base]] and [[Henderson, Western Australia|Henderson]]. Planned in 1911, construction of the base commenced in 1913 but was abandoned during World War I and cancelled in 1920.

Temporary naval facilities subsequently existed in the state during World War II but a permanent facility was not established until 1978, when {{HMAS|Stirling}} was commissioned.

==History== Studies into the establishment of a naval base in Western Australia date back to 1887, when [[John Coode (engineer)|John Coode]], the head of the firm of Coode and Matthews and a respected English civil engineer, visited Australia to select a location for a naval base.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article217694183 |title=Sir John Coode Visiting Western Australia. |newspaper=[[Toowoomba Chronicle and Darling Downs General Advertiser]] |issue=3293 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=17 February 1885 |accessdate=1 July 2023 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201019713 |title=Western Australia. |newspaper=[[Telegraph (Brisbane)|The Telegraph]] |issue=4,657 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=10 September 1887 |accessdate=1 July 2023 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> He provided a report on his activities four years later, in which he suggested [[Cockburn Sound]] as a location. His recommendation was, to drill into [[Success Bank|Success]] and [[Parmelia Bank]]s to establish whether ships could pass through the sandbanks through dredged channels to allow access to the sound.<ref name="Position" >{{cite news |date=3 April 1923|title=Henderson Naval Base - The Present Position|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/77893689|work=[[Daily News (Perth, Western Australia)|The Daily News]]|location=[[Perth]]|access-date=24 May 2020}}</ref>

Following a visit to Australia, British Admiral [[Reginald Friend Hannam Henderson|Reginald Henderson]] suggested Cockburn Sound as the location of a naval base once more in 1910, as part of a report compiled by him. At the time, the Royal Australian Navy in Western Australia consisted of fourteen men and four sail boats, based in a boats shed.<ref name="Henderson" >{{cite web |url=https://history.cockburn.wa.gov.au/Buildings-and-places/Suburbs/Henderson|title=Henderson|author= |website=history.cockburn.wa.gov.au|publisher=[[City of Cockburn]] |access-date=24 May 2020}}</ref>

Henderson's report came at a time of radical change in the plans for the Royal Australian Navy. Prior to 1909, the navy's role was a domestic and defensive one, with naval ships no larger than [[destroyer]]s required for this task. From 1909, the thinking of the Australian naval staff evolved towards a [[blue-water navy]], equipped with larger surface ships. This ambitious plan saw Australia as a major naval power in the Pacific by 1933. The events of World War I prevented the execution of such plans and the financial constraints and a return to Britain as a source of naval protection for Australia put an end to plans of a large Australian naval force altogether.<ref>Cowman, p. 43</ref>

The new Henderson Naval Base was envisioned to be home to 7,500 men, 17 armoured ships and nine submarines and to be Britain's main base in the Indian-Pacific region.<ref name="Henderson" />

The Commonwealth of Australia acquired much of the land on the coastal strip from [[Woodman Point]] in the north to [[Cape Peron]] in the south following the announcement of the future base and the land remained under federal government ownership even after the naval base plans were abandoned.<ref name="Training" >{{cite web |url=https://history.cockburn.wa.gov.au/Wartime/Military-and-home-defence/Training-at-Naval-Base-10th-Light-Horse-and-more|title=Training at Naval Base: 10th Light Horse and more|author= |website=history.cockburn.wa.gov.au|publisher=[[City of Cockburn]] |access-date=24 May 2020}}</ref> Consequently, development of the area stalled and settlers moved to other areas.<ref name="Munster" >{{cite web |url=https://history.cockburn.wa.gov.au/Buildings-and-places/Suburbs/Munster|title=Munster|author= |website=history.cockburn.wa.gov.au|publisher=[[City of Cockburn]] |access-date=24 May 2020}}</ref>

The official opening of the Henderson Naval Base took place on 7 May 1913, in the presence of [[Australian Senate|Senator]] [[George Pearce]],<ref name="Offical" >{{cite web |url=https://history.cockburn.wa.gov.au/Archive/Picture/Offical-opening-of-Henderson-Naval-Base,-7-May-(1)|title=Official opening of Henderson Naval Base, 7 May 1913|author= |website=history.cockburn.wa.gov.au|publisher=[[City of Cockburn]] |access-date=24 May 2020}}</ref> with speeches from Admiral [[William Rooke Creswell|Creswell]] and the [[Premier of Western Australia]] of the time, [[John Scaddan]].<ref name="Henderson" />

The project suffered from unfortunate timing, starting just a year before the outbreak of World War I, and domestic issues like labour shortages and delays in the harbour dredging.<ref name="Henderson" /> By late 1913, only about 30 men worked on the Henderson Naval Base, the number of workmen having been scaled back, something that was registered with indignation in Western Australia.<ref name="Position" /> In 1914, Irish engineer [[Maurice Fitzmaurice]] was involved with the selection and design of the harbour, with Jervoise Bay, just south of Woodman Point, selected over [[Mangles Bay]].<ref>{{cite news |date=8 August 1914|title=Cockburn Sound Base - Jervoise Bay selected|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/92038167?searchTerm=HENDERSON%20NAVAL%20BASE%20jervoise%20bay&searchLimits=|work=[[The Leader (Melbourne)|The Leader]]|location=[[Melbourne]] |access-date=24 May 2020}}</ref>

The cost of construction, on top of the financial cost of the war effort, proved to be a heavy burden on Australia's economy. By 1917, [[Australian pound|£A]]{{nbsp}}1.5 million, equivalent to {{AUD|{{Inflation|AU|1.5|1917|r=1}}{{nbsp}}million|link=yes}} in {{Inflation/year|AU}}, had been spend on the Henderson base, which was envisaged to cost £A{{nbsp}}5.5 million, equivalent to {{AUD|{{Inflation|AU|5|1917|r=1}}{{nbsp}}million}} in {{Inflation/year|AU}}, over a period of ten years to construct.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xv06xy96SnMC&dq=henderson+naval+base&pg=PA425|title=Australia and world crisis, 1914-1923|author=Neville Kingsley Meaney |page=425 |year=2009|publisher=[[Sydney University Press]] |isbn=9781920899172|access-date=24 May 2020}}</ref>

The project was officially abandoned in 1920 in favour of a British naval base in [[Singapore]].<ref name="Henderson" /> By 1923, the blue-water navy strategy for the Royal Australian Navy had been abandoned, the navy drastically reduced, suffering from coal shortages, and its only capital ship, [[HMAS Australia (1911)|HMAS ''Australia'']], scuttled a year later. Leading Australian politicians like Senator Pearce felt that, with the [[Washington Naval Treaty]] from 1922, the potential threat of Australia from Japan had been eliminated for at least the following decade.<ref>Cowman, p. 64 & 65</ref>

==Legacy== [[File:HMAS Warramunga (FFH 152) and Perth (FFH 157) at Australian Marine Complex, Henderson, September 2019.jpg|200px|thumb|[[HMAS Warramunga (FFH 152)|HMAS ''Warramunga'']] and [[HMAS Perth (FFH 157)|HMAS ''Perth'']] at the [[Australian Marine Complex]] in 2019]] Also never completed, the Perth suburb of [[Naval Base, Western Australia|Naval Base]] derives its name from the proposed facility while the suburb immediately north of it, [[Henderson, Western Australia|Henderson]], is named after the admiral and base.<ref name="Henderson" /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www0.landgate.wa.gov.au/maps-and-imagery/wa-geographic-names/name-history/historical-suburb-names#N|title=Perth and surrounds suburb names |author= |website=landgate.wa.gov.au|publisher=[[Landgate]] |access-date=24 May 2020}}</ref>

The camp facilities of the Henderson base were used for training during World War II and as public housing in the post war years.<ref name="Henderson" /> The camp was located east of the Naval Base to [[Rockingham, Western Australia|Rockingham]] road, now [[Cockburn Road]], on the high ground south of the fence of the Woodman Point Quarantine Station. The area is now part of the Woodman Point Waste Water Treatment Plant.<ref name="Training" />

Fremantle was extensively used by the Australian and allied navies during World War II but no permanent base was established in Western Australia in the decades after the war. A feasibility study for Cockburn Sound was carried out in 1966 and, three years later, the Australian Government announced the construction of a naval base on [[Garden Island (Western Australia)|Garden Island]]. From 1975, the new facility came in use but was officially commissioned in July 1978 as {{HMAS|Stirling}}, the Fleet Base West.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.navy.gov.au/establishments/fleet-base-west|title=Fleet Base West|author= |website=www.navy.gov.au|publisher=[[Royal Australian Navy]] |access-date=24 May 2020}}</ref>

Henderson, today, is home to the [[Australian Marine Complex]], a maintenance facility that serves the Royal Australian Navy.<ref name="Henderson" />

==References== {{reflist}}

===Bibliography=== * {{cite report |author-first1=Ian |author-last1=Cowman |editor1-first=David |editor1-last=Stevens |date=1997|title=In search of a maritime strategy|chapter-url=http://bellschool.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/publications/attachments/2016-03/119_In_Search_of_a_Maritime_Strategy__The_Maritime_Element_in_Australian_Defence_Planning_Since_1901._David_%28ed.%29._STEVENS_p_B000JNI4J2.pdf|publisher=[[Strategic and Defence Studies Centre]] - The [[Australian National University]] |isbn=0731527151 |series=Canberra Papers on Strategy and Defence No. 119 | chapter=Chapter 3, The vision splendid,: Australian military strategy 1911-23}}

==External links== * {{cite report |author= Admiral Sir Reginald Henderson|author-link=Reginald Friend Hannam Henderson |date=1911|title= Recommendations of Admiral Sir Reginald Henderson|url=https://www.navy.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/Recommendations%20by%20Admiral%20Sir%20Reginald%20Henderson%201911_opt.pdf}}

{{subject bar |auto=y |portal1=Western Australia |portal2=Royal Australian Navy}}

[[Category:City of Cockburn]] [[Category:City of Kwinana]] [[Category:Former installations of the Royal Australian Navy]] [[Category:Cockburn Sound]] [[Category:Military installations established in 1913]] [[Category:Military installations in Western Australia]]