Australia’s Colonial Navies. By Ross Gillett. Naval Historical Society of Australia, Sydney, 2021.
Reviewed by Greg Swinden
Ross Gillett first wrote this book in 1982, well before the days of the Internet, when research on naval matters was a ‘cold hard slog’ through musty documents and microfiche in archives and state libraries. The 1982 version of Australia’s Colonial Navies quickly became the definitive text on the pre-federation colonial navies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria.
Wilson Evans had previously produced Deed not Words – The Victorian Navy in 1971, but it only dealt with the colony of Victoria, and other books contained short chapters on naval activities in Queensland and South Australia.
Australia’s Colonial Navies effectively generated more research on the topic of the colonial navies; including Colin Jones Australian Colonial Navies (1986), Bob Nichols Bluejackets & Boxers: Australia’s Naval Expedition to the Boxer Uprising (1986) and Ian McFarlane & Neil Smith’s Victoria and Australia’s First War (2005) dealing with HMCS Victoria’s service during the First Taranaki War, in New Zealand, that later earned the RAN is first battle honour – New Zealand 1860-61. All that said Gillett’s book still remained the authoritative work on this subject and showed the lineage of the colonial warships up to 1901 and then, for many, on through to service in the Commonwealth Naval Forces (1901-11) and the RAN from 1911.
In recent years Ross sought to improve his original book with research now somewhat easier due to modern methods facilitating access to archives and digitized newspaper articles. This new and updated version of Australia’s Colonial Navies provides substantial additional information regarding the colonial warships, vessels identified by the colonies for potential naval service and the little known Fremantle Naval Volunteers in the colony of Western Australia. Modern publishing methods have also allowed the original photos used to be reproduced in a much clearer format and e-publishing allows more photos to be used. The 1982 edition was 142 pages with the 2021 version now 260 pages. My only criticism is the role of the Naval Brigades, effectively the naval infantry, operated by many of the colonies, especially New South Wales and Victoria, is under-represented.
This updated and enhanced edition of Australia’s Colonial Navies is an excellent source of information regarding the various ‘Australian’ colonial navies; and it still is the ‘go-to’ publication for anyone seeking to know more about the colonial navies and the foundations for the current RAN. Well done to the Naval Historical Society of Australia for re-publishing Australia’s Colonial Navies.
