Location of 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 (32°11′36″S, 115°40′16″E). Emblems: Floral - Kangaroo Paw (Anigozanthos manglesii); Mammal - Numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus); Bird - Black Swan (Cygnus atratus) Motto: none Slogan or Nickname: Wildflower State Other Australian states and territories Capital Perth Government Const. ...

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.^[1] The Noongar Indigenous Australians tell of walking to these islands in their Dreamtime. Rottnest Island from space The Basin and Bathurst Lighthouse Rottnest Island ( ) is located 19 km off the coast of Western Australia, near Fremantle. ... Carnac Island is an A Class nature reserve approximately 10 kilometres south west of Fremantle, Western Australia. ... The Noongar (alternate spellings: Nyungar/Nyoongar/Nyoongah),[1] are an indigenous Australian people who live in the southwest corner of Western Australia from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the south coast. ... See also, List of Indigenous Australian group names. ... Representation of the Rainbow serpent, the Waugal For other uses, see Dreamtime (disambiguation). ...

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^[2], are located on the shores of Careening Bay, on the southeastern section of Garden Island, facing Cockburn Sound. The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. ... HMAS Stirling badge HMAS Stirling (, ) is the name given to the administrative centre of the Royal Australian Navys main naval base on the west coast (Fleet Base West), located on Garden Island just off the Western Australian coast near the city of Perth. ... Headline text HMAS Stirling Royal Australian Navy, Naval base. ... Cockburn Sound is an inlet of the Indian Ocean on the coast of Western Australia. ...

History

Garden Island and Cockburn Sound from space. Image generated by NASA World Wind

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. Cockburn Sound is an inlet of the Indian Ocean on the coast of Western Australia. ... Willem de Vlamingh (born 28 November 1640, died ?) was a Dutch sailor who explored the southwest coast of Australia (then New Holland) in the late 17th Century. ... Events September 11 - Battle of Zenta, Prince Eugene of Savoy crushed Ottoman army of Mustafa II September 20 - The Treaty of Ryswick December 2 – St Pauls Cathedral opened in London Peter the Great travels in Europe officially incognito as artilleryman Pjotr Mikhailov Use of palanquins increases in Europe Christopher...

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 Union Jack, flag of the newly formed United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. ... 1803 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Paris Eiffel tower as seen from the esplanade du Trocadéro. ...

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. Admiral Sir James Stirling Admiral Sir James Stirling (January 28, 1791–April 23, 1865) was the first Governor of Western Australia (1828–38) and on his own initiative signed Britains first limited treaty with Japan in 1854. ... Cockburn Sound is an inlet of the Indian Ocean on the coast of Western Australia. ... The Isle of Wight is an English island and county, off the southern English coast, to the south of the county of Hampshire. ... For other places with the same name, see Portsmouth (disambiguation). ...

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. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1829 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1897 (MDCCCXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Location of Fremantle, Western Australia Fremantle ( ) is a city located within the Perth metropolitan area on Australias western coast, at the mouth of the Swan River, 19 kilometres southwest of Perths Central Business District. ...

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. 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Combatants Allied Powers: Russian Empire France British Empire Italy United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary German Empire Ottoman Empire Bulgaria Commanders Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Ferdinand Foch Herbert Henry Asquith Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Franz... Combatants Allied Powers: United Kingdom France Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Axis Powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Charles de Gaulle Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33...

Current use

Garden Island viewed from near the Kwinana Grain Terminal

Main article: HMAS Stirling

In 1966 a feasibility study was begun 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 kilometre causeway began in 1971 and completed in 1973. The Naval Support Facility was completed in 1978 and HMAS Stirling was 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. Headline text HMAS Stirling Royal Australian Navy, Naval base. ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... Year 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1971 calendar). ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ...

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 whole 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

1. ^ Geography. Rottnest Island Authority (2005). Retrieved on 2006-11-05.
2. ^ RAN website on HMAS Stirling

• Statham-Drew, Pamela (2003). James Stirling: Admiral and Founding Governor of Western Australia. Nedlands, Western Australia: University of Western Australia Press. ISBN 1-876268-94-8. 

2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... November 5 is the 309th day of the year (310th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 56 days remaining. ...

External links

• Globalsecurity.org, 'Fleet Base'