Audiobook

Selected Articles—H.M.V.S. Cerberus and the Defence of the Colony of Victoria

John Donaldson

In terms of population, in terms of development and in terms of wealth, Victoria boomed in the 1850s and 1860s due to the Gold Rush. Undeniably, the colony had money to burn. Surprise port visits by the Russian corvette Bogatyr and the Confederate warship Shenandoah in the 1860s awakened in Victoria a deep sense of vulnerability, and Victorians set their minds to a new domestic project – a decades long pursuit of security. That effort would ultimately give rise to extensive coastal fortifications, militia and artillery formations both voluntary and professional, sea mines, and a small but not inconsequential naval flotilla whose backbone would be the formidable ironclad H.M.V.S. Cerberus. Not that these efforts were confined to Victoria alone. The not-infrequently perilous straits of the Mother Country as it navigated the treacherous shoals of European politics and global empire provided ample reasons for insomnia. To varying degrees the other states too had constituted forces, and most made a start at acquiring ‘warships’—an assemblage tending more to the ‘dinky’ side than that term might otherwise suggest. But where naval matters were concerned New South Wales made something of a false start, while Queensland and South Australia simply started late. Whether this is because the issue didn’t resonate as much in the other colonies, or whether Victoria simply had larger resources to sink into an inherently (economically) unproductive project is not immediately obvious. Efforts _were_ made in all the colonies, however and joint defence and a federal fleet would be a not insignificant impetus towards Federation. The Australian colonies would largely abandon armaments acquisition with the depression of the 1890s, but the arrival of Theodore Roosevelt’s Great White Fleet in 1908 exercised popular imagination, and the recently federated Commonwealth of Australia set about acquiring a new navy. This new Royal Australian Navy, lead by the battle-cruiser HMAS Australia, steamed into Sydney Harbour for the first time in late 1913. This new institution would be tested far more strenuously than the naval forces of the unfederated colonies ever were. My appreciation to the [url=” https://www.cerberus.com.au/index.html]”Friends of the Cerberus[/url] for their extensive online resources. - Summary by Alister