Dive into maritime past
THE discovery of the wreck of the Australian World War I submarine AE1 off the coast of New Britain near New Guinea late last year reminded us of a time from 1920 to 1922 when Geelong’s Osborne House was Australia’s first submarine depot.
The submarine AE1 had been lost in September, 1914, not long after the start of World War 1.
Her sister ship, the AE2, had been scuttled off the coast of Turkey the following year at the beginning of the Gallipoli campaign.
The end of the war saw the return of the Australian fleet and the arrival of the RAN submarine depot ship HMAS Platypus, together with six J Class submarines donated by the Royal Navy.
Osborne House was chosen as the submarine base because of an existing lease agreement between the Defence Department and the Geelong Har- bour Trust, with the Royal Australian Navy having established a naval college there in 1913, and the availability of accommodation.
The earlier naval college had soon been transferred to Jarvis Bay, and during World War I Osborne House became a military hospital.
In 1917, nurses were sent there to convalesce, and they were transferred to Wyuna on Western Beach during the summer of 1919-20.
But by March 1922 the submarine depot was being wound down as part of a worldwide reduction in naval forces.
The fleet of six J Class submarines were scuttled in Port Phillip Bay and off Barwon Heads, with J3 scuttled off Swan Island.
Osborne House reverted to the Geelong Harbour Trust in 1929 and in 1937 it was sold to the Shire of Corio for use as council offices.
It was taken over by the City of Greater Geelong following amalgamation in the early 1990s, and has since been used by a large range of community groups.
However these, and the Geelong Maritime Museum which occupied the stables, were asked to vacate last year after the discovery of the presence of mould.
No timetable has yet been established for the required maintenance work. Contact: peterjohnbegg@gmail.com