A NAVAL TRAGEDY

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18015, 6 March 1924, Page 16

A NAVAL TRAGEDY

FLAGSHIP'S DOWNFALL.

RELIC OF QUEENSLAND FLEET. (VBOX OUB OWW COBBXSPOBSSHT.) SYDNEY, February 28. The sinking of H.M.A.S. Australia, which, it has been definitely decided, will take place off Sydney Heads in view of the ships of the' British special service squadron some day about April 15th, is not the only naval tragedy, which the people of Australia are being called upon to witness. Work is now proceeding in Brisbane in dismantling the proud old Gayundah, one-time flagship of the Queensland Fleet, which passed out of existence upon the federation of the States in 1901. For no fault of her own save that she has grown old she is to be degraded to the rank of a coal hulk. The Gayundah stood guard in Moreton Bay during the Russian war scare, and she welcomed to Australian waters the American Fleet in Sydney Harbour. in 1908 on behalf of the Commonwealth of Australia. Stripped of her guns,, she lies at St. Peter's slip in Brisbane while workmen dismantle

her, leaving a shadow of her former «clf. _ She is waiting patiently the • final insult; in a few weeks she will . be converted into a barge or coal hulk. It was in the eighties that the gunboats Gayundah and Paluma, with Captain Wright in command, arrived at Brisbane. Queensland was already protected at that time by the diminutive Mosquito, a second-class torpedo boat. The Midge, a picket boat, came in 1887, and with her arrival the State became the proud possessor of a fleet of no fewer than four vessels. The Paluma was commissioned by the Imperial Government to do survey work afterwards, and proceeded to Torres Strait.

Rumours of an impending war with Russia were abroad when the Gayundah steamed up the Brisbane River, and a Naval Brigade was quickly formed during the anxious time which followed. Manned by men from the brigade, and accompanied by the tiny Mosquito, the Gayundah sallied out to Moreton Bay,- where she stood guard over the port of Brisbane until the scare was over. The years which followed were busy ones for the Gayuadah. She was. in the pride of her youth. She carried the heaviest gun of any vessel of her tonnage, an 6in breech-loader, and also a 6in breechloader, two ljin Nordenfeldt quick- ' firers, and two machine-guns. Plying the White' Ensign, which she had been given speeial permission to display during the days when Queensland "annexed" New Guinea, she steamed up and down the coast, "showing the flag" in every port, deep and shallow, in .the State. In 1902, after the federation of the States, she was taken over by the Commonwealth Government. She was used as a trainingihip up to the, outbreak of war, when she went to Cockatoo Island for altera, tionfl, her whale-back bow being built up., During the. war she acted as guardship in Moreton Bay, and on one occasion found it necessary to fire a shot across the bows of an oversea ship which disregarded her signal to stop. , , Although the Gayundah was never fortunate enough to go into action, 6he captured three vessels on one occasion. In 1911 she was despatched to Broome, on the north-west coast of Australia, and there captured three luggers which

(Continued at toot of next column.) >' ~ ~

were fishing illegally in Government waters. In 1889 she salvaged a steamer which had gone aground in Torres Strait.

With the passing of the Gayundah the last link with the Queensland fleet is broken. The Paluma, which returned to Queensland after she had completed her survey work, was used for some time, together with the Gayundah, as a training-ship. In 1909 she was transferred to Victoria, and shortly after her arrival her boilers were removed. She remained in this state for many years, when she was repaired, and converted into a training-ship. Finally, she was turned over to the Harbour Board, and she is now used for rock-blasting purposes. Her guns have been placed as ornaments at the Westingport naval establishment. The Sin breech-loader of the Gayundah has been accorded no such honour. No body was willing to accept it as a trophy, and it was buried in d pit near the Naval Depot at Kangaroo Point, Brisbane, together with the Bin breechloader from the Palunia« : 4