Stevenson Division, 31st Junior Recruit Intake, HMAS Leeuwin

Some History of HMAS Leeuwin

The history of the RAN in Fremantle goes back to 1st July 1911 when a District naval Officer was appointed at Fremantle primarily to administer Reserves enrolled for compulsory training. The first district naval officer was captain C.J. Clare and the Naval Staff Office was established in a disused Post Office in Cliff St Fremantle.

In 1913 a building known as King’s Warehouse was leased from the Customs Department for use as a drill hall. This remained in use for 13 years until a new drill hall was constructed in an area bounded by Mouat St, Croke Lane and Cliff St. On the 1st October 1926 the new buildings were occupied by the District Naval Officer and his staff and King’s Warehouse was vacated. At this time the establishment was known as HMAS Cerberus V.

The Naval Control of Shipping Service was established on 1st September 1939 and the next day the Port War Signal Station on Rottnest Island was manned and mobilisation commenced. The Croke Lane Depot was commissioned HMAS Leeuwin on 1st August 1940. During 1941-42 much development occurred including the building of the new and present depot at Preston Point to provide torpedo maintenance facilities for allied submarines and gunnery training for the RAN. This land had previously been partly WA Government Railway property along with Gallop’s farm on the Preston Point Road side. This was occupied in 1942 following the appointment of NOIC Fremantle, the first being Commodore JA Collins. After the war and prior to Junior Recruit Training starting in 1960 the depot was mainly used in the training of Reserves and National Servicemen.

The Naval Board decided to proceed with Junior Recruit Training in 1959, HMAS Leeuwin that had existed in rundown state since the end of National Service was the choice for the new scheme. By the end of 1959 HMAS Leeuwin again took on the appearance of a naval establishment and facilities were restored to provide the accommodation and training of Junior Recruits.

On the 18th July 1960 the first 155 trainees entered HMAS Leeuwin. A total of 141 went on to graduate on 16 June 1961 in the first Passing Out Parade that was reviewed by the late Vice Admiral Sir Henry Burrell, KBE, CB, RAN, and Chief of Naval Staff.

The number of Junior Recruits under training grew steadily in the 1960’s reaching 619 in 1965 and eventually peaking to just over 800 in the early 1970’s. The largest intake was the 50th in 1974 consisting of 276 entries of which 229 went on to graduate.

A long-term development plan was commenced in 1965 in a sweeping rebuilding program that saw virtually all of the temporary structures replaced by modern buildings. Sadly the 1980’s saw the decline of the JR Scheme and the graduation of the 86th intake on 4 December 1984 was the last. A total of 13,340 JR’s entered the scheme between 1960 and 1984, of that number 12,074 graduated.

(The information in this article comes courtesy of Vic Jeffery)