Royal Australian Naval College facility at HMAS Creswell
Date1920s
Object number00055443
NamePhotograph album
MediumPaper, cloth, photographs, ink, paint, iron/steel
DimensionsOverall: 235 × 155 × 20 mm
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection gift of Robert Murphy
DescriptionPhotographic album belonging to Sidney Cooper, who served as the Study Corporal at the Royal Australian Naval College during the 1920s. The album contains annotated and some hand coloured photographs of the Royal Australian Naval College (RANC) facility at HMAS Creswell following its establishment at Jervis Bay, New South Wales during the second decade of the twentieth century.
The photographs depict various areas of the facility including classrooms, seamen’s block, cadets’ dining room, laboratory and petty officers’ houses. Other photographs show ships such as HMAS FRANKLIN, HMS RENOWN, HMAS BRISBANE, HMAS AUSTRALIA and HMAS MELBOURNE.HistoryCaptain's Point on Jervis Bay was selected by Australia's Parliament as the site of the Royal Australian Naval College (RANC) on 7 November 1911. Construction of the main college buildings was completed in early 1915, and the facility opened on 10 February of that year.
In 1930, the RANC moved to Flinders Naval Depot in Victoria as a cost-saving measure driven by the effects of the Great Depression. During this period, the facility's buildings were leased as hotels and guesthouses, although the Royal Australian Navy retained use of those along the waterfront, as well as some housing for married naval personnel.
In the early 1950s it became clear that Flinders Naval Depot was becoming overcrowded; consequently, the Australian government decided to relocate the RANC to its original site at Jervis Bay in 1956. The RANC reopened at Jervis Bay in January 1958 and the installation was commissioned HMAS Creswell after Vice Admiral Sir William Creswell, KCMG, KBE.SignificanceThe photographic album is associated with the earliest years of the Royal Australian Naval College (RANC), Australia's authority for the basic and leadership training of officers for service in the Royal Australian Navy. Often nicknamed the 'Cradle of Australia's Navy', the facility has, since its inception, produced some of the nation's most notable naval leaders in both peace and war. The photographic album is notable because it shows the installation shortly after it was established and images from this period in the RANC's history are very rare; the fact that those in the album are annotated make them even more significant.
1938-1941
1948-1952
