HMAS Parramatta Shipwreck and Memorials

About

HMAS Parramatta Shipwreck and Memorials is a heritage-listed shipwreck at Cascade Gully, Hawkesbury River, Bar Point, Central Coast, New South Wales, Australia. The heritage listing also includes three related memorials, two at Queens Wharf Reserve in Parramatta and one at Garden Island in Sydney. The original HMAS Parramatta was commissioned in 1910, paid off in 1928, and wrecked in 1934. The bow and stern sections were subsequently converted into memorials, while the third memorial relates to the second HMAS Parramatta, sunk in service at Tobruk in World War II. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 15 December 2006.

The wreck of the former HMAS Parramatta (I) is remarkable for its early associations with the establishment of Commonwealth Naval forces. A torpedo boat destroyer (TBD), Parramatta (I) was the first of six built to serve as fast hunters of the "River" Class, a modification of the British "I" Class destroyer. This class was the last British warship designed with an external rudder system. With Pennant Number "55" painted on the bow, Parramatta was the first of the Australian group built by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company at Govan, Scotland in 1910. It was also the first to arrive in Australian waters.

The class was noted for its length of 250 feet (76 metres) and displacement of 700 tons, a range of 2,400 miles (3,900 km) at a speed of fifteen knots. They were equipped with one four-inch gun, three twelve pounders and three eighteen inch torpedo tubes. Sister ship HMAS Yarra (1910) was built by the famous firm of William Denny and Brothers at Dumbarton, Scotland ; HMAS Warrego (1911) in the same yard as Parramatta and re-erected at Cockatoo Island Dockyard, Sydney ; with HMAS Swan (1915), HMAS Huon (1914) and HMAS Torrens (1915) built solely at Cockatoo.

HMAS Parramatta (I) was one of a number of vessels ordered for the Commonwealth's new naval forces in 1909, following the assimilation of the various colonial fleets post- Federation. Various proposals were forwarded for the modernisation and expansion of the navy which lead to the construction of Parramatta between 1909 and 1910. The keel of the flagship, the elegant battle-cruiser HMAS Australia (I) was also laid in 1910, followed by the Chattam-Class cruisers HMAS Melbourne and HMAS Sydney in 1912. Parramatta found itself the first completed vessel of the Royal Australian Navy when King George V proclaimed the establishment of the navy on 10 July 1911.

With the outbreak of war in 1914, Parramatta (I) immediately saw active service in German New Guinea serving with the Australian fleet led by HMAS Australia (I). This powerful force included the light cruisers Sydney, Melbourne, Encounter and Pioneer ; the two newly arrived E-Class submarines AE1 and AE2 ; and Parramatta's sisters Yarra and Warrego. Their duty was to flush out the feared German Pacific cruiser squadron under Admiral Maximilian von Spee (which had in fact already fled). The fleet first assisted the allied landings at key installations in German New Guinea, capturing the important naval base at Rabaul, the capital of the German colony.

After taking Rabaul and on patrol duties with the submarine AE1, HMAS Parramatta (I) was the last vessel to see the submarine which sank mysteriously with all hands on 14 September 1914.

During 1914, Parramatta (I) steamed 193 miles (311 kilometres) up the dangerous Sepik River in New Guinea in search of enemy vessels. Parramatta spent much of 1915 and 1916 enforcing shipping movements in the western Pacific. In mid-1917 the whole destroyer flotilla was sent to the Mediterranean Sea and based at Brindisi, Italy, on Adriatic Sea patrols to seek out enemy submarines.

On 12 November 1918, Parramatta (I) was part of the Allied fleet that entered the Dardanelles after Turkey agreed to an armistice. After the war, the destroyers sailed to England for leave, then returned to Australia. Here they were individually decommissioned between 1919 and 1928.

Parramatta (I) ended up in the Hawkesbury River as a proposed hulk for the New South Wales Prisons Department, following its decommissioning in 1929. Parramatta was sold soon after to George Rhodes of Cowan and used as a blue-metal storage barge. It was sold again to local marine engineer Norman Murphie who was the stepson of the esteemed Edward Windybank and finally used to store water for local residents during the Depression. Here in 1934, Parramatta blew ashore on a mud flat in Cascade Gully, adjacent to Milson Island and became a total wreck. Squatters allegedly lived on the remains during this time.

In 1972, the Naval Historical Society of Australia began a project to recover the bow and stern for a memorial to the vessel and its later namesakes (Parramatta (2) and Parramatta (3), and Australian naval history generally. However, funding and other constraints delayed the project with the stern finally being mounted in Queens Wharf Reserve, Parramatta in 1981 and the bow at Garden Island in 1986.

HMAS Parramatta (II) was constructed at Cockatoo Island Dockyard, Sydney, for the Royal Australian Navy as ship number 131. Construction was started on 9 November 1938, the vessel launched on 10 June 1939, and completed on 4 April 1940. The overall length was 266 feet (81 metres) and displacement 1,080 tons. HMAS Parramatta (II) was active during World War II in the East Indies and the Mediterranean Sea.

Parramatta (II), a Grimsby class escort sloop, was sunk by the German U-boat U-559 on 27 November 1941. The action occurred in the Mediterranean Sea off Tobruk, North Africa. 138 lives were lost with only 24 survivors. The incident stands as the fourth worst loss of RAN lives during armed conflict, with HMAS Yarra (also 138 lives), after HMAS Sydney (645 lives), HMAS Perth (353 lives) and HMAS Canberra (84 lives).

The Parramatta (II) memorial was established in Queens Wharf Reserve in 1986 by the Naval Association of Australia (NSW sub-branch) and Parramatta Council to commemorate the loss of Parramatta (II).

The wreck of the former HMAS Parramatta (I) is remarkable for its early associations with the establishment of Commonwealth Naval forces. A torpedo boat destroyer (TBD), Parramatta (I) was the first of six built to serve as fast hunters of the "River" Class, a modification of the British "I" Class destroyer. This class was the last British warship designed with an external rudder system. With Pennant Number "55" painted on the bow, Parramatta was the first of the Australian group built by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company at Govan, Scotland in 1910. It was also the first to arrive in Australian waters.

The class was noted for its length of 250 feet (76 metres) and displacement of 700 tons, a range of 2,400 miles (3,900 km) at a speed of fifteen knots. They were equipped with one four-inch gun, three twelve pounders and three eighteen inch torpedo tubes. Sister ship HMAS Yarra (1910) was built by the famous firm of William Denny and Brothers at Dumbarton, Scotland ; HMAS Warrego (1911) in the same yard as Parramatta and re-erected at Cockatoo Island Dockyard, Sydney ; with HMAS Swan (1915), HMAS Huon (1914) and HMAS Torrens (1915) built solely at Cockatoo.

HMAS Parramatta (I) was one of a number of vessels ordered for the Commonwealth's new naval forces in 1909, following the assimilation of the various colonial fleets post- Federation. Various proposals were forwarded for the modernisation and expansion of the navy which lead to the construction of Parramatta between 1909 and 1910. The keel of the flagship, the elegant battle-cruiser HMAS Australia (I) was also laid in 1910, followed by the Chattam-Class cruisers HMAS Melbourne and HMAS Sydney in 1912. Parramatta found itself the first completed vessel of the Royal Australian Navy when King George V proclaimed the establishment of the navy on 10 July 1911.

With the outbreak of war in 1914, Parramatta (I) immediately saw active service in German New Guinea serving with the Australian fleet led by HMAS Australia (I). This powerful force included the light cruisers Sydney, Melbourne, Encounter and Pioneer ; the two newly arrived E-Class submarines AE1 and AE2 ; and Parramatta's sisters Yarra and Warrego. Their duty was to flush out the feared German Pacific cruiser squadron under Admiral Maximilian von Spee (which had in fact already fled). The fleet first assisted the allied landings at key installations in German New Guinea, capturing the important naval base at Rabaul, the capital of the German colony.

After taking Rabaul and on patrol duties with the submarine AE1, HMAS Parramatta (I) was the last vessel to see the submarine which sank mysteriously with all hands on 14 September 1914.

During 1914, Parramatta (I) steamed 193 miles (311 kilometres) up the dangerous Sepik River in New Guinea in search of enemy vessels. Parramatta spent much of 1915 and 1916 enforcing shipping movements in the western Pacific. In mid-1917 the whole destroyer flotilla was sent to the Mediterranean Sea and based at Brindisi, Italy, on Adriatic Sea patrols to seek out enemy submarines.

On 12 November 1918, Parramatta (I) was part of the Allied fleet that entered the Dardanelles after Turkey agreed to an armistice. After the war, the destroyers sailed to England for leave, then returned to Australia. Here they were individually decommissioned between 1919 and 1928.