View source for Garden Island (Western Australia)

{{Short description|Island near Perth, Western Australia}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Use Australian English|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox islands
 | name             = Garden Island
 | image_name       = GardenIsland.png
 | image_size       = 
 | image_caption    = Garden Island and [[Cockburn Sound]] from space ([[NASA World Wind]])
 | image_map        = {{maplink
  |frame=yes
  |plain=yes
  |frame-align=center
  |frame-lat=-32.19726
  |frame-long=115.67608
  |frame-width=220
  |frame-height=220
  |text=Garden Island is an island near [[Rockingham, Western Australia|Rockingham]], [[Western Australia]], situated approximately {{cvt|2.1|km|mi|1}} north of [[Cape Peron|Point Peron]].
  |zoom=10
  |type=shape
  |stroke-colour=#C60C30
  |stroke-width=3
  |title=Garden Island
  }}
 | location           = [[Indian Ocean]]
 | coordinates        = {{coord|32|11|39|S|115|40|27|E|type:isle_region:AU|display=inline,title}}
 | length_km          = <!-- or |length_m=  -->
 | length_footnotes   = 
 | width_km           = <!-- or |width_m=  -->
 | width_footnotes    =
 | coastline_km       = <!-- or |coastline_m=  -->
 | coastline_footnotes= 
 | population         = {{#invoke:PopulationFromWikidata | ListForInfobox | type=suburb | wikidata=Q3095431}}
 | elevation_m        = 
 | elevation_footnotes= 
 | highest_mount      = 
 | area_km2           = 11
 | country            = {{flag|Australia|name=Commonwealth of Australia}}
|module={{Infobox designation list
| child               = yes
| designation1        = Commonwealth heritage list
| designation1_offname= Garden Island
| designation1_type   = Listed place (Natural)
| designation1_date   = 22 June 2004
| delisted1_date      = 
| designation1_partof = 
| designation1_number = [http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/ahdb/search.pl?mode=place_detail;search=state%3DWA%3Blist_code%3DCHL%3Blegal_status%3D35%3Bkeyword_PD%3D0%3Bkeyword_SS%3D0%3Bkeyword_PH%3D0;place_id=105274 105274]
}}
}}
'''Garden Island''' ({{langx|nys|'''Meandup'''}} and {{lang|nys|'''Meeandip'''}}) is a narrow island about {{convert|10|km|0}} long and {{convert|1.5|km|1}} wide, lying about {{convert|5|km|mi|0}} off the [[Western Australia]]n coast, to which it is linked by an artificial [[causeway]] and bridge.

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.<ref>{{cite web|title=Natural History|publisher=Rottnest Island Authority|url=https://rottnestisland.com/the-island/about-the-island/our-history/natural|access-date=22 January 2021}}</ref> The [[Noongar]] peoples tell of walking to these islands in their [[Dreamtime]].

At the end of the [[last glacial period]], the [[Past sea level|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]], also called [[HMAS Stirling|HMAS ''Stirling'']],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.navy.gov.au/establishments/hmas-stirling|title=RAN website on HMAS Stirling}}</ref>{{full citation needed |date=January 2025}} is on the shores of Careening Bay, on the southeastern section of Garden Island, facing [[Cockburn Sound]]. {{As of|2016|alt=At the 2016 census,}} {{val|720}} people lived on the Garden Island base.<ref>[http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/SSC50527?opendocument ABS]{{Dead link|date=July 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>{{full citation needed |date=January 2025}}

The entirety of Garden Island is included on the Commonwealth Heritage List for its natural values. Garden Island is home to a [[tammar wallaby]] population.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/ahdb/search.pl?mode=place_detail;search=place_name%3DGarden%2520Island%3Bstate%3DWA%3Bkeyword_PD%3Don%3Bkeyword_SS%3Don%3Bkeyword_PH%3Don%3Blatitude_1dir%3DS%3Blongitude_1dir%3DE%3Blongitude_2dir%3DE%3Blatitude_2dir%3DS%3Bin_region%3Dpart;place_id=105274|title=Garden Island, WA, Australia|website=Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment|access-date=22 January 2021}}</ref>{{full citation needed |date=January 2025}}

==History==
[[File:Garden Island at sunset 02.jpg|thumb|Garden Island at sunset, with causeway at left of image]]
The island was marked but not named on [[Netherlands|Dutch]] maps in 1658, even though there were three Dutch ships in the area that year: ''Waekende Boey'' under Captain S. Volckertszoon, ''Elburg'' under Captain J. Peereboom and ''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.

Jacques Felix Emmanuel, Baron Hamelin was the Captain of {{ship|French corvette|Naturaliste||2}}, one of three [[France|French]] ships that visited in 1801 to 1803. He named the island {{lang |fr |Ile de Buache}},<ref name="hc4501" /><ref name="pér09" />{{rp|pp=145–146}} after {{ill |Jean-Nicolas Buache |fr |lt=Jean-Nicolas Buache,|v=sup}} a marine cartographer in [[Paris]].

The island was renamed ''Garden Island'' in 1827 by Captain [[James Stirling (Australian governor)|James Stirling]], who "prepared a garden and released a cow, two ewes and three goats in an area<!--ref says "a area", silently corrected per Wikipedia:Quotations#Formatting --> of good pasture with good water supply".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/stirling.htm|title=HMAS Stirling, Fleet Base West, Garden Island|publisher=GlobalSecurity.org|access-date=2024-07-27}}</ref> It has been widely believed that Stirling chose the name ''Garden Island'' because he planted a garden there, but he used the name well before anything was planted there,<ref name="sta03" /> possibly 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]].

Stirling returned to the area in 1829, claiming Garden Island as part of his grant of {{convert|100000|acre|ha|0|order=flip}}, plus any livestock remaining from his previous visit. The first settlement of the [[Swan River Colony]] was situated on Garden Island near Cliff Point.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hamersley |first1=Trent |last2=Burke |first2=Shane |date=2023-07-17 |title=The Swan River Colony's First British Settlement: Early Results of Surveys of Garden Island (Meeandip), Western Australia |pages=1161–1184 |journal=[[International Journal of Historical Archaeology]] |volume=27 |publisher=[[Springer Nature]] <!-- |doi=10.1007/s10761-023-00704-8 --> |url=https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1090&context=sci__article |access-date=2025-11-02 }}</ref>{{rp|p=[https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1090&context=sci__article#page=5 3]}} Named ''Sulphur Town'' after {{HMS|Sulphur|1826|6}},<ref name="hc4501" /> it had a population of 450 people.

Sulphur Bay and Careening Bay were important anchorage and cargo disembarkation points for ships until 1897 when [[Fremantle]]'s inner harbour was completed. In 1907 Peet & Co (now Peet Limited) subdivided {{incomprehensible span |date=February 2025 |reason=Should it be 83 blocks? If not, explain what "eight-three blocks" are. |text=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 [[Challenger Battery]] was the first gun battery constructed on Garden Island in 1942. Two US-supplied mobile [[Canon de 155mm GPF|Canon de 155&nbsp;mm guns]] on [[Panama mount]] were installed to protect Garden Island, Cockburn Sound and the [[Challenger Passage]]. The battery was installed in early 1943 and operational by April. In the meantime, more permanent batteries were constructed on the island, which were completed in October 1943. The battery was withdrawn again in December 1944.<ref name="Mckenzie" >{{Citation|author1=McKenzie-Smith, Graham|author-link=Graham McKenzie-Smith|title=Defending Fremantle, Albany and Bunbury, 1939 to 1945|year=2009|publication-date=2009|publisher=Grimwade Publications|isbn=978-0-9806291-0-1}}</ref>

The biggest battery on Garden Island was the Scriven Battery, fitted with two breech-loading [[BL 9.2 inch gun Mk IX–X|9.2-inch MkX guns]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Dunn|first=Peter|title=SCRIVEN BATTERY GARDEN ISLAND, WA DURING WW2|url=https://www.ozatwar.com/bunkers/scrivenbattery.htm|work=www.ozatwar.com|access-date=20 May 2013}}</ref> similar to the Oliver Hill Battery on [[Rottnest Island]]. In 1943 building began on a complex of tunnels and rooms, included shell stores, magazines, pump chamber and powerhouse, plotting room and command post, and battery observation posts. However, the threat of attack receded as the battery was completed. Resources were allocated elsewhere, and the battery and its guns were placed in reserve. The battery was decommissioned in 1963 and the guns scrapped.

During [[World War II]], [[Careening Bay Camp]] became a major training base for the secretive [[Services Reconnaissance Department]] (SRD), also commonly referred to as ''[[Z Special Unit]]''. The base was officially known as the Special Boat Section and was used to train operatives in the advanced use of [[folding kayak]]s as well as top secret British midget submarines such as the [[Motorised Submersible Canoe]] (also known as ''Sleeping Beauty''), [[Welman]] and [[Welfreighter]] submarines. SRD parties staging out of Careening Bay Camp were sent on clandestine missions into Japanese-occupied territory.

Following the war, Garden Island became home of the Royal Australian Navy Reserve Fleet and a holiday resort again with a brief ferry service from [[Rockingham, Western Australia|Palm Beach]]{{snd}}one of these converted ferries, ''[[Trixen]]'', is now preserved in the [[Western Australian Maritime Museum]].

==Naval base==
[[File:Collins class submarine at HMAS Stirling in August 2019.jpg|thumb|A Royal Australian Navy submarine and ship at HMAS ''Stirling'']]
{{Main|HMAS Stirling}}
In 1966, a feasibility study began into establishment of a naval support facility on the island, which was endorsed by the [[Australian Government]] in 1969. Construction of the {{convert|4.3|km|adj=on}} Garden Island causeway began in 1971 and was completed in 1973. The facility was completed in 1978, and HMAS ''Stirling'' was formally commissioned as a unit of the [[Royal Australian Navy]] in the same year. ''Stirling'', also referred to as [[Fleet Base West]], was developed further under the [[History of the Royal Australian Navy#Two-Ocean Policy|Two-Ocean Policy]] to become the main naval base on the west coast of Australia.

A designated access road to the base, the [[Garden Island Highway]], was also proposed and a small section constructed but never completed and eventually cancelled in 1984. With the proposed expansion of the base for [[AUKUS]], completing this highway has been proposed again and a feasibility study {{update after |2025 |text=is being completed in 2025}}.<ref name=Minutes >{{Cite web |url=https://rockingham.wa.gov.au/your-city/council/council-and-committee-meetings/agendas-and-minutes/2024/october/planning-and-asset-services-minutes-october-2024 |title=Minutes Planning and Asset Services Committee |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=14 October 2024 |website=rockingham.wa.gov.au |publisher=[[City of Rockingham]] |access-date=31 December 2024 |quote=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.minister.defence.gov.au/media-releases/2024-12-18/albanese-government-enhance-infrastructure-and-connectivity-rockingham |title=Albanese Government to enhance infrastructure and connectivity in Rockingham |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=18 December 2024 |website=www.minister.defence.gov.au |publisher=[[Australian Government]] |access-date=31 December 2024 |quote=A detailed environmental study of the Garden Island Highway Proposal, and; A detailed heritage study and constraint mapping exercise of the Garden Island Highway Proposal.}}</ref>

{{As of|2008}}, ''Stirling'' is home to five frigates and all submarines of the [[Royal Australian Navy Submarine Service|Australian Submarine Service]], which is headquartered at the base. A [[Clearance Diving Team (RAN)|Clearance Diving Team]] is also based at ''Stirling''.

Since completion of the facility, public access to the island has been restricted to daylight hours. However, {{as of|June 2010|lc=y}} public access is not granted to the public in general via the causeway unless entry is sponsored by the military. Access by sea is restricted to private boats using moorings, also under daylight curfew conditions. The Navy has undertaken various successful programmes for the removal of introduced animals; all native animals on the island are protected.

==See also==
*[[List of islands of Perth, Western Australia]]

==References==
{{Reflist |30em |refs=
<ref name="hc4501">{{cite web |title=Garden Island |date=2022-07-12 |website=Heritage Council, Government of Western Australia |url=https://inherit.dplh.wa.gov.au/public/inventory/printsinglerecord/77a0d852-37f1-4ac6-9a90-9dd8877bbf4d |access-date=2024-07-27 }}</ref>

<ref name="pér09">{{cite Q |Q128790983 |mode=cs1}}</ref>

<ref name="sta03">{{cite Q |Q136431983 |last=Statham Drew |first=Pamela }}</ref>
}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Garden Island, Western Australia}}
* [https://www.navy.gov.au/about-navy/bases-and-locations/hmas-stirling HMAS Stirling]

{{Suburbs of Rockingham}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Garden Island (Western Australia)]]
[[Category:Commonwealth Heritage List places in Western Australia]]
[[Category:Suburbs of Perth, Western Australia]]
[[Category:Suburbs in the City of Rockingham]]