Australia Station

Ships of the Royal Navy's squadron on the Australia Station moored in Sydney in 1880

The Australia Station was the British and later Australian naval command responsible for the waters around the Australian continent and British and Australian colonial-possessions in the South Pacific.

From the 1820s the Royal Navy's East Indies Squadron sent a ship annually to the colony of New South Wales and occasionally New Zealand. In 1848 an Australian Division of the East Indies Station was established and the Australia Station was established as an independent command in March 1859.

While it began as a Command of the Royal Navy, it became the responsibility of Australia on the formation of the Royal Australian Navy in 1913.

At the time of its establishment the Australia Station covered about 1/6th of the Earth's surface. The area covered by the Australia Station differed throughout its history. The station consisted of the waters around Australia and eastern New Guinea and stretched south to Antarctica at the time of World War II.

References

• Frame, Tom (2004). No Pleasure Cruise:The Story of the Royal Australian Navy. Sydney: Allen & Unwin. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |unused_data= (help); Text "Tom Frame" ignored (help)
• Adrienne Blunt Key Resources Guide on Australian Maritime Strategy