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OUR HERITAGE Osborne House

The first submarine base in Australia surprisingly was not in Sydney but at Corio now a suburb of North Geelong, Victoria from 1920-1922. So why was the first base so far removed from the then main fleet at Sydney? There are many reasons, but the main one was readily available accommodation.

The Royal Australian Navy was officially created on 10 July 1911. The fledgling Navy’s growth was interrupted by the declaration of war in 1914. At the end of the First World War, a request from the acting Prime Minister dated 2 May 1919 was sent to the Lords Commission of the Admiralty in London. On its receipt, Admiral of the Fleet, Viscount Jellicoe of SCAPA GCB OM GCVO RN was instructed to undertake a naval mission to Australia and advise the Government of Australia of his findings. His agenda was to review the naval strategical problems affecting Australian waters; future compositions of the Australian Navy; Naval Base and supply requirements in the Pacific and eastern Indian waters; and the general organisation of naval forces and administration.

With partial success of the German commercial raiders and mine laying in Australian waters it was very obvious that the sea-lanes to Britain needed to be protected in any future conflict. With experience gained by the British it was shown that submarines could operate successfully at immense distances from their home bases. This knowledge was the basis of the report for provision of defence against submarine attacks in Australia and all parts of the then British Empire.

Viscount Jellicoe in his report stated, "Australia, in common with the rest of the Empire, is dependent on the security of her sea communications, but Australia is also faced with the problem of invasion, due to the attractions offered by the great potential value of the land and very small population occupying it".

On submarines the Viscount stated the following: "It is recommended that a depot corresponding to Fort Blockhouse, Gosport, England, should be established. This depot would be in the main a submarine school where all officers and men would assemble on being accepted for service in submarines and at which they would receive their instruction:

"The most suitable place for the submarine depot is Port Phillip, where suitable depth of water and ample space is available for all preliminary work and where the climate is good. For more advanced work and final training the submarines attached for instructional purposes can proceed outside. The depot should be established at Williamstown, where buildings already exist which can be adapted for housing officers and men when the naval depot and training establishment at Flinders Base (HMAS Cerberus) is started. It is advantageous for the training depot to be situated near a large town, as the personnel under training will consist of men of such length of service as to nullify the objections which exist to a similar procedure in the case of boys’ training ships.

"The depot should be self-contained and have attached to it two submarines and one small sea-going vessel for instructional purposes. There should be lecture rooms for officers and men, workshops for instruction and upkeep of machinery, battery and air charging plant capable of dealing with the submarines attached. Docking accommodation is available at Williamstown, but repairs and refits should either be carried out at Cockburn Sound or at Port Stephens or Sydney. The officer in command of the submarine service should make the depot his headquarters and be in command of the instructional school as well until expansion of the submarine service makes it necessary to have a separate commanding officer."

Originally the RAN had planned that the submarines would be serviced at Cockatoo Island in Sydney and provisions for more specialised machinery and tools were ordered from Britain. The Navy had also planned to have the submarines based at Garden Island with battery charging facilities installed and accommodation for submarine equipment and submariners were to be in the Island’s Sail Loft.

On receipt of the Viscount’s report the Government took his recommendations to base the submarines at Port Phillip, however, instead of Williamstown they chose Corio Bay. From the Navy’s point of view Corio Bay had a major drawback, its waters are shallow and required to be dredged before the depot ship HMAS Platypus and submarines could take up moorings there. As stated earlier the reasons they chose Osborne House at Corio was its size and bayside location and also the Defence Department had a peppercorn agreement to the estate.

Osborne House with its accompanying stables, coach house and courtyard was designed for Robert MUIRHEAD by architects Charles WEBB and Thomas TAYLOR, built and completed in 1858. It was originally built as a two story bluestone structure with Barrabool sandstone dressings and a single story Doric colonnade verandah in the Victorian Italianate style; it was extended in 1910, and again in 1967.

Robert MUIRHEAD, a Scottish immigrant first arrived in Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) along with the many squatting families involved in the sheep industry. He moved to the Geelong area and worked as an overseer in the powerful Clyde Company, which had many sheep-runs in the district. In 1843 he left the company and set up his own run at Yarram Yarram in the Grampians and was married in 1844. The house he built for himself and his wife Mary was named after Queen Victoria’s royal residence on the Isle of Wight. Robert passed away in March 1862 and his wife died in October 1863 leaving a family of three daughters.

The estate was put up for auction in 1864, as there was no purchaser; the Executor’s agents leased the property. The first lessee was another Scottish squatter John Lang Currie who owned a number of pastoral properties in Victoria. Currie leased the House until 1873.

From 1873 until 1900 there was a series of owners or lessees of the house. The first being a E.J. HOGG who leased it for several years, then James F. Maguire who purchased the house in 1878 and was sold by his wife Mrs. Annie B. Maguire in 1886 to Andrew LOW who sold the house in 1888. The next owner was Philip RUSSELL a Scottish breeder of fine merino wool. Under his ownership the property flourished and doubled in value. In 1900 the Victorian Government with the intention of using it as the Premier’s Country Residence purchased the property. In the Shire of Corio rate books RUSSELL was still being billed for the property until 1905. The house never became the Premier’s Country Residence.

On the formation of the Geelong Harbour Trust in 1905 Osborne House and adjacent land known as the "Russell Estate" was granted to the Trust to provide additional source of income. The Harbour Trust later paid the Victorian Government 6,000 Pounds for Osborne House.

During 1910, several additional bedrooms and a dining room were added to the house, these rooms became the North Wing and an extension to the South Wing. In March 1911 a tenant was found and the building became an elegant guesthouse.

With the upcoming commission of the Royal Australian Navy the Geelong Harbour Trust in March 1911 offered Osborne House to the Navy for use as a Naval College. At first the Navy were reluctant to take up the offer as they were building a college at Jervis Bay, however due to delays in building to make it occupational the Navy decided to take up the offer and the first, albeit temporary, Naval College was established at Osborne House. In an agreement dated 10 June 1912 Osborne House was given as a form of a "free gift" if the property was permanently occupied as a Naval College or other similar purpose. If the occupation proved to be temporary, the payment of compensation was to be mutually arranged or decided by arbitration.

The tenants of the house were given five weeks to vacate the premises and in addition to the house and grounds a small boat shed and jetty on the Russell Estate was added to the agreement.

It was during the inspection and correspondence between the Government and the Trust that the original furnishings and contents of the house were included in the agreement. Over the years items from the house have been lost or misplaced, as you will note by a news item in the footnote at the end of this story.

The Naval College was officially opened by the Governor General Lord Denman in March 1913.

The first cadets, 1913

He inspected the property and 28 cadet midshipmen chosen from 137 candidates throughout Australia. Of that group, 8 cadets at the end of their initial course volunteered for submarines and undertook their training in England as Midshipmen to return later as Sub Lieutenants in the ‘J’ Class submarines. Although not submariners two other cadets in that intake were to rise in prominence in the navy and have a submarine named after them, Vice Admiral Sir John COLLINS and Rear Admiral Harold FARNCOMB. In the 1914 intake, 7 of the cadets volunteered for submarines. Two of the cadets, Frank GETTING from the 1913 and Norman SHAW from the 1914 intakes continued their submarine careers after the disbandment of the "J" class boats, both became the first Australians to undergo and complete the Submarine Commanding Officers Course (Perisher) in England.

At the end of 1914 the college under the command of Commander GRANT moved the cadets to Jervis Bay over the Christmas break of 1914—15. With the Naval College transferred, the House stayed in the hands of the Department of Defence until 1929.

In July 1915 the Defence Department gave authority to the Department of Works and Railways in Melbourne to erect a new kitchen on the site of the old one and a lavatory block at Osborne House, which was now being used as convalescent accommodation for invalided members of the Australian Infantry Force. In March 1918 part of the House was temporarily taken over by the Red Cross Society who were using similar houses as convalescence hospitals for army nurses who, in the opinion of the Repatriation Department required rest and treatment. In October 1919 the Government decided to base the newly acquired ‘J’ class submarines in Corio Bay and the Red Cross Society was advised that they would have to vacate the premises after 1 December 1919. The choice of Corio Bay over Flinders Naval Depot (FND) was accommodation and also the fact that a suitable exercise area was 60 miles (95.5 km.) away as opposed to 28 miles (45 km.) at Corio. There were no suitable exercise areas at Sydney due to the depth of water, and there appears to be no reason given for not using Williamstown. On 27 December the Secretary of the Society at Osborne House wrote to the Navy Department advising that they would be evacuating the House on 7 January 1920 several days earlier than expected and that they had hoped that the billiard table would be in position by that date.

The Submarine Flotilla commanding officer Commander Edward C. Boyle VC RN soon had the house, stables and coach house converted for use as a submarine depot with the following alterations and additions. Two large rooms in the house were partitioned, the existing kitchen enlarged, which included a suitable hearth. Furniture in the house made up to Naval Establishment level allowed for officers. Furniture supplied for Petty Officers and men as allowed by Naval Establishment as accommodation in the outbuildings. Bars erected for the slinging of the men’s hammocks. Bag racks and hammock bins supplied. Electric light and water service fittings made good where necessary, the installation of an internal telephone system and sufficient patent fire extinguishers. Included in the alteration was the inclusion of a Submarine Attack Teacher in the coach house.

In addition to the work carried out on the house, guardrails where installed on the existing wharf and the shed at the base of the wharf was improved and walls strengthened to be used as a lay-apart store for the individual submarine fittings.

Non-submariner ratings were requested to assist in running the new base, the request was approved and the following were added as permanent supernumeraries for duty at Osborne House. One Boatswain as Barrackmaster, 10 seamen of Able and Ordinary ranks, 10 Stokers, one Petty Officer Cook and 2 Cooks, 6 Officer’s Stewards and one Leading Victualling Assistant.

Due to shallow waters near the then current wharf, Corio Bay became very busy as naval craft were brought in to support the Submarine Flotilla, which now consisted of HMAS Platypus and the ‘J’ class submarines. The former monitor HMVS Cerberus was towed from Hobsons Bay at Williamstown to be used as a tender, she was renamed Platypus II, however the urge to recommission her was rejected. The Torpedo Boat Destroyer HMAS Huon was seconded to the Flotilla for use as a support ship and target for submarine torpedo exercises. An ash lighter was sent to assist in disposal of ash from Platypus’ coal boilers. No 3 Oil Fuel Lighter AFL501 was also attached to the Flotilla for fueling the submarines. Two smaller craft, the steam-launch HMAS Kooroonga and Motor Boat 39 were also provided to ferry the submariners, stores and machinery between the submarines, ships and shore.

The lack of a suitable wharf to moor the submarines and support vessels against was of considerable concern for Commander Boyle,

Presentation of awards, 1921

he believed that the base could not run efficiently if water transport had to be relied on to carry 285 officers and men from their living and eating quarters at the house to their submarines, notably a number before breakfast, the whole after breakfast, before dinner, after dinner, before tea, a certain number after tea and before supper. A wharf would also serve as a quick and smooth method of moving torpedoes and battery cells from submarines, the latter especially as the proposed system over bumpy roads from Geelong wharf would create vibration, which could crack the containers or elements.

Also of concern to Boyle was a battery shed and charging plant for the proper maintenance of batteries, which at the present time was being serviced on Platypus’ deck, the charging plant being very essential because the dynamos on the ship were not powerful enough to give the high rate charge that is periodically necessary to any battery.

It was also recognized that a torpedo store to hold 28 torpedoes and its accompanying workshop and a air compressing plant to test the gyroscopes was needed to support the Flotilla, included in his report Boyle requested that a new and larger lay-apart store for submarine gear be built. Although the Navy recognized the need for these improvements to make the base suitable, unfortunately the building program was never undertaken.

One of the notable guests to Osborne House during its tenure as a submarine base was the Governor General of Australia Lord FORSTER of LEPE who had been invited on 13 December 1921 to the base to present war service medals to those submarine officers and sailors who had served during World War One. Captain Boyle who had been promoted on 30 June 1920 escorted the Governor and his entourage around the grounds prior to the presentations and formal photographs later.

By March 1922 the submarine base was winding down, half of the submarine fleet was paid off and left to wallow in the mud flats of Hanns Inlet at FND, the rest were quick to follow. Cerberus (Platypus II) was towed back by Platypus to Williamstown, so was No3 Oil Fuel Lighter and the ash lighter. KOORONGA, which was handed over temporarily to the Captain Superintendent of Training, was towed to FND by Platypus, which also conveyed the Submarine Attack Teacher to be installed in the Torpedo School for instructional purposes. Motor Boat 39 was retained at Osborne House for disposal. HUON returned to Sydney and paid off with a care and maintenance crew onboard. On the completion of her towing duties Platypus returned to Sydney with all of the guns, torpedo armament and medical stores from the submarine flotilla, which were transferred to the Royal Edward Victualling Yards in Sydney and the ship was recommissioned as a Destroyer Depot Ship and Fleet Repair Vessel.

The submarine officers and men attached to the Submarine Flotilla reverted back to general service with the exception of a battery party for maintenance of the batteries retained for use at FND and six RAN officers who returned to England to continue their career in submarines.

Church Parade, 1921

An extract from the Naval Board Minutes dated 27 October 1922 states "It was pointed out that in the event of the Submarine Service being re-instituted, Osborne House will probably be required as the Submarine Depot again. The question of moving the Naval College to Osborne House also has not been finally decided, but it is considered that it is unlikely that the Government would approve of the removal of the college from Jervis Bay." In the meantime a maintenance party consisting of an Executive Office, Lieutenant CRABBE RN, the Barrackmaster, a Petty Officer, one Leading Seaman and six ratings was retained to look after Osborne House until the future of the house and grounds had been decided.

In early July 1924 a pet kangaroo and a female deer which had been kept by the submariners broke the wire netting and escaped from the fenced off park at Osborne House, the doe was found in a paddock at Rippleside and chased off, she then entered the vegetable garden at Osborne House where she eluded capture, it wasn’t until both the kangaroo and deer were rounded up together with the horses kept on the estate that they were recaptured. The Naval Board decided it was not in the best interests to keep the animals at Osborne House and arrangements were made with the Melbourne Zoological Gardens to take the animals, the kangaroo and deer were put in crates and sent by rail from Port Geelong to Spencer Street Station and delivered to the Melbourne Zoo.

In June 1924 the Australian Government decided to purchase two new Oberon class submarines from England. HMAS OXLEY and OTWAY arrived in Sydney on 14 February 1929. Australia being a signatory of the Treaty of Versailles agreed at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 the Government was obliged to recognize both the Washington and London Treaties and place both submarines into immediate reserve at Garden Island, Sydney on 10 May 1930. The establishment of the second submarine depot with the two new submarines at Osborne House never eventuated. In April 1929 the Navy handed back control of the house to the Geelong Harbour Trust.

In 1937 the house and two acres of land, excluding the stables, were sold to the Shire of Corio to be used as Shire Offices. However in 1941 the building was taken over by the Department of Navy and operated as a training establishment until December 1945. The Shire Council met in rented offices until the house was handed back. In 1948 the Council purchased the Stables and adjacent land from the Geelong Harbour Trust.

The historical importance of Osborne house, its coach house, stables and accompanying land was recognized by the National Trust and was classified in 1965.

Over the years the house has undergone extensive renovations with additions to the North Wing and the establishment of the East Wing in 1966-67. Ten years later another extension was added to the North Wing. With the amalgamation of the Shire of Corio with the City of Greater Geelong the house was vacated and is now unoccupied, however a museum detailing the maritime and naval history of the Geelong area and Osborne House is located in the coach house and stables.

In early January 1999 the Geelong Council planned to sell off the imposing coach house and stables to Delsa Constructions who intend to convert the current buildings into studio apartments with blocks of flats being built on the bayside of the stables, this would mean the relocation of the museum. In the contract Delsa propose to upgrade the house for public use. The proposals created uproar with both local residents and historical societies who were incensed that an important heritage property could be desecrated and protests against the sale have been taken to Council meetings. At the time of printing this newsletter no decision has been finalised on the fate of the out buildings on the grounds or the building of flats.

by Peter Smith

HMAS Platypus - "NOTHING TOO DIFFICULT" 18 August 1967 - 14 May 1999 HMAS Platypus was designed and built to provide base support for the six '0' Class submarines of the Royal Australian Navy. The base was built on ground which was formerly part of the Royal Australian Naval Torpedo Establishment in Neutral Bay, Sydney. The base provided full maintenance and repair facilities and safe alongside berths for six submarines and supplied them with the services they require such as Electrical. Power, Fuel Oil, Lubricating Oil, Fresh and Distilled Water and High Pressure Air. Up-to-date communication facilities for submarine command and control were installed in HMAS Platypus. Accommodation for off-duty personnel was provided in HMAS Penguin at Balmoral. The complement of the base on commissioning was 11 officers and 137 Senior and Junior Sailors and the Captain of HMAS Platypus was also the Commander of the Fourth Submarine Squadron.   Handover of the bronze Platypus in 1967 by FOSM (RN) Rear Admiral M Geoch to Commander W Owen, with the Navy Minister, Mr Allen Fairhall present. The pride of the Fleet, 4 of the 6 Oberons that formed the Squadron.  FOURTH SUBMARINE SQUADRON On commissioning of HMAS Platypus, the Fourth Submarine Squadron, Royal Australian Navy was established, consisting of HMAS Oxley, HMS Tabard and HMS Trump. The Squadron was originally established in 1949 under the Command of Commander (later Rear Admiral) ILM McGeoch DSO DSC Royal Navy and consisted of HMS Thorough, HMS Telmachus and HMS Tactician. Until August 18, 1967, the Squadron was part of the Royal Navy under a governmental agreement between Great Britain and Australia. The two Royal Navy submarines, HMS Tabard and HMS Trump, were replaced over the following two years by Australian '0' Class submarines .

Peter Smith and "The Duck"
Spectacle Island 2002
(Peter is the one with striped shirt)