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- 05 February 1788
Governor Arthur Phillip allocated Garden Island, Sydney, to HMS SIRIUS for use as a ship’s garden.
- 11 February 1788
HMS SIRIUS landed a party on Garden Island, Sydney, to prepare a ship’s garden.
Three sets of initials, ‘FM’, ‘IR’, and ‘WB’, were carved on a rock on the northern hill.
These are now the oldest marks extant made by white men in Australia.
- 05 October 1789
The first boat built in the colony of NSW, the ROSEHILL PACKET, was launched in Sydney Cove.
The boat builder was R. R. Read, the ship’s carpenter of HMS SIRIUS.
- 13 December 1791
Philip Parker King, (son of Governor Phillip Gidley King, RN), was born on Norfolk Island. He was the first Australian to reach flag rank in the RN.
- 25 July 1795
A new form of signalling called semaphore was introduced into the RN.
The system was devised by the Reverend Lord George Murray.
- 13 September 1796
The Governor of NSW, CAPT John Hunter, RN, appointed Thomas Moore Master Boat Builder of His Majesty’s Dockyard at Sydney.
- 12 October 1799
The Board of Admiralty issued the first signal book to the RN.
- 25 September 1800
A battery of two guns was established on Garden Island, to protect Sydney from a French attack.
The garrison of 12 Marines was commanded by Henry Hacking.
- 09 March 1801
LEUT John Murray, RN, in HMC brig LADY NELSON, explored and took possession of Port Phillip.
He named the bay in honour of the first Governor of NSW, CAPT Arthur Phillip, RN.
- 11 March 1803
CAPT James Colnett, RN, in HMS GLATTON, was appointed Senior Officer of His Majesty’s Ships and Vessels in Port Jackson.
- 15 December 1803
HMC Schooner CUMBERLAND, (CMDR Matthew Flinders, RN), was seized by the Captain General of Mauritius, Charles Mathieu Decaen. Flinders was held prisoner for five and a half years. He was released on 19 June 1809 after the island was blockaded by a British Squadron.
- 08 March 1808
The 5th-rate, HMS SAN FIORENZO, (CAPT G. N. Hardinge, RN), captured the French ship PIETMONTAISE, (40 guns), in a battle which lasted three days.
CAPT Hardinge was killed in the battle. The victory gave the RN control of the Indian Ocean.
HMS SAN FIORENZO was the French ship MINERVE, captured at Corsica in 1794. CAPT Hardinge was presented with two prize swords for this action which are now on display at the Historical Collection of HMAS CRESWELL.
- 07 September 1811
The Sydney Gazette published a proclamation by Governor Lachlan Macquarie, declaring Garden Island, Sydney, a public domain.
- 25 December 1811
Governor Lachlan Macquarie and Mrs. Macquarie celebrated Christmas in on passage from Hobart to Newcastle.
‘My poor Elizabeth has suffered a great deal from the seasickness’, recorded the Governor.
- 10 February 1814
Captain John Piper resigned his army commission to assume the duties of Naval Officer, Port Jackson.
- 20 June 1814
HMS NELSON, later HMVS NELSON, was launched on the River Thames, London.
- 12 January 1817
HMCS LADY NELSON, (brig), sailed from Sydney to search for survivors from the brig TRIAL in the Port Stephens area.
Natives interrogated by the ship’s crew said the convicts who had landed from the wreck had built a smaller vessel and had sailed north.
- 19 October 1817
The RN adopted the 9,000 item flag signalling system compiled by CAPT Frederick Marryat, RN. The system was adapted from the French Navy manual. It was first demonstrated in Australia by HMS WARSPITE, in 1826.
CAPT Marryat achieved lasting fame as the author of Mr. Midshipman Easy.
- 23 October 1817
The monthly rate of pay for an able seaman in HMC vessels was £11 3s 6d.
Soap and slops were charged against them.
- 16 October 1818
HMC brig LADY NELSON returned to Port Jackson, Sydney, after an unsuccessful search for survivors from the schooner WILLIAM COSSAR, in the Port Stephens, NSW area.
A wreck, identified as the colonial schooner GOVERNOR PHILLIP, was found on a beach 40 to 50 miles north of Port Stephens.
- 09 September 1820
HMCS SPITFIRE, transported the expedition of LEUT J. W. Smith, RN, and G. E. Dalrymple, to explore northern Queensland. Spitfire Rock was named to honour the schooner
- 23 October 1823
HMC cutter MERMAID sailed with explorer John Oxley to survey the coast between Fingal Head and Gladstone.
- 11 January 1824
The following monthly rates of pay for naval officers were fixed by the Admiralty:- £61 7s 4d (1st rate ship); £23 0s 4d (sloop); First Lieutenant £11 10s 0d (1st rate ship); £9 4s 0d (sloop); Lieutenant £9 4s 0d (1st rate ship); £7 13s 4d (sloop); Master £ 13 0s 8d (1st rate ship); £7 13s 4d (sloop); Midshipman £2 8s 0d (all ships); Chaplain £12 5s 4d (all ships); Surgeon £12 5s 4d (all ships); Assistant Surgeon £9 4s 0d (all ships); Purser £7 0s 0d (all ships); Second Master £5 9s 4d (1st rate ship); £4 14s 0d (6th rate ship).
- 04 December 1824
HMC Ship AMITY, (brig), returned to Sydney after conveying the Governor of NSW, Sir Thomas Brisbane and his staff, to the Brisbane River, for the founding of the settlement which was named in his honour.
- 06 March 1827
CAPT James Stirling, RN, in HMS SUCCESS, named Garden Island, at the mouth of the Swan River, WA, where Fremantle now stands. Garden Island became HMAS STIRLING, (Fleet Base West), and forms part of Cockburn Sound, named by Stirling after RADM Sir George Cockburn, RN.
- 30 June 1831
HMS COMET, (sloop, 18 guns), was stationed at Port Jackson, Sydney. The vessel was used for punitive expeditions in the Pacific Islands.
- 01 August 1831
The NSW Government Gazette announced that officers of the Royal Navy and Marines, retiring from the service or going on half-pay, (in Australia), would be entitled to the following remissions when purchasing Crown land:- Those who had served 20 years and upwards; £300; 15 years and upwards; £250; 10 years and upwards; £200; 7 years and upwards; £150.
- 11 September 1836
CAPT Thomas Lipson, RN, was appointed Naval Officer, Port Adelaide, SA.
- 12 October 1836
The schooner HMCS ISABELLA, (LEUT Charles Morgan Lewis, RN), arrived in Port Jackson, NSW, with one survivor and 45 skulls from the barque SIR CHARLES EATON, wrecked on Aureed Island, Torres Strait, in 1834. The crew and passengers of the barque had been massacred by natives.
- 11 January 1843
LEUT Charles B. Yule, RN, of HMS BRAMBLE, discovered and named Heron Island.
- 17 May 1843
The first war vessel built in Australia, the schooner ELBA, (119 tons schooner), patrolled the estuary of the Derwent River, TAS, to put down smuggling, and prevent the escape of convicts from the colony. ELBA was built at Port Arthur, TAS.
- 22 August 1848
An historic tug-of-war between HMS BASILISK, (paddlewheel sloop), and HMS NIGER, (screw sloop), was conducted to prove the relevant efficiency of the two systems of propulsion. NIGER won the contest. Both vessels later served on the Australia Station.
- 20 July 1852
VADM Sir W. R. Creswell, KCMG, KBE, ‘Father of the RAN’, was born at Gibraltar where his father was the postmaster.
- 09 October 1852
A special Admiralty committee examined the problems of manning the RN. Recommendations made by the committee led to wide-sweeping changes in 1853, which included the abolition of the press gang, increased pay rates, and pensions for continuous service.
- 31 May 1853
HMS BRAMBLE was loaned to the NSW Government as a diving bell tender at Cockatoo Island. In 1873 the vessel was reported as a light ship. It was finally sold out of service in 1876.
- 04 April 1855
HMCS SPITFIRE, (ketch), was launched in Cuthbert’s shipyard, Sydney. The vessel was described at the time as 65 tons displacement, 51 ft long, 16 ft 6 in beam, ketch rigged, and armed with a single 32-pound swivel gun on a traversing carriage. The Empire newspaper reported: ‘SPITFIRE they named her, and one would like to know why the Governor stayed away from her launching’. Despite the newspaper’s lack of confidence the vessel served the colony well, voyaging as far as northern Queensland on Government business. SPITFIRE was not the first warship built in Australia, but she was the first built for Australia’s defence.
- 30 June 1855
HMVS VICTORIA, (sloop of war), was launched on the River Thames, London.
- 17 October 1855
CAPT William Loring, CB, RN, commanded HMS FURIOUS in the attack on Kinburn Split in the Crimea. CAPT Loring was the Commodore Commanding the Australia Station from 1859 to 1860.
- 12 December 1855
The steam war sloop HMVS VICTORIA, (CAPT Lockyer, RN), sailed from the Thames on her maiden voyage to Australia.
- 08 April 1856
The Williamstown division of the Victorian Marine Artillery Corps was formed to defend Port Phillip.