Overview

The six Australian colonies united on 1st January 1901 to become the Commonwealth of Australia. One of the reasons given for this federation was that the Commonwealth could provide a common defence.William Rooke Creswell argued that, as an island continent, Australia could not defend itself without a navy. He saw no point in having a 70,000 strong army if only one enemy battleship could destroy port cities and disrupt maritime trade and sea communications.Creswell was not alone in his campaign to establish a navy for Australia but he was the one constant advocate throughout the years from his first proposals on a navy for Australia in 1886 to when the first ships of the Australian Fleet sailed into Sydney Harbour in October 1913.

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9781443854511

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Dr Sheila Dwyer was born in Yorkshire and came to Australia with her family in 1964, having lived in Wollongong since then. She completed her Doctorate at the University of Wollongong, New South Wales in 2012. Her main area of interest is navies in the Pacific from 1885 to 1914, with a focus on Australia and the foundation of the Australian Navy which was her thesis topic.

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