The building is the oldest on Garden Island, two-storey, built of stuccoed brick with stone sills, arches and columns. The original loft floor of timber remains, caulked with oakum and bitumen.
Garden Island is on the southern shore of Port Jackson, the proper name for the harbour at Sydney, Australia. It is second promontory east of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
The Royal Navy used the island from February 1788, just a month after Australia's colonisation by the First Fleet, as a garden for provisioning first HMS Sirius and later the fleet based in the port. During the nineteenth century, the island became the support base for the fleet and various buildings were established including houses for senior staff.
The stone and brick Rigging building was built in 1887, on the shoreside shelf at the northern end of the island, in which the chapel was later established. The building bears the dedication "VRI 1887", alluding to its construction during the reign of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom ("Victoria Regina Imperatrix"). The building now sits at the north-eastern end of the Captain Cook Dry Dock, which was constructed in the channel between the island and the mainland and connected the island to the mainland shore at Potts Point. The building has been restored, including the wrought iron swing cranes adjacent to each major upper doorway which were formerly used to get rigging to and from the upper floor. These doorways in the chapel are now stained glass windows. The main entrance is from the northern side.
On the wall opposite the entrance doors, midway on the stairs, is a map showing the places where RAN Honours have been won, with at each side the current and former White Ensigns of the RAN.
Main Chapel
[edit]Naval Chapel at Garden Island, looking to the altar. Boat-shaped pulpit at front-left.
The main chapel is on the upper level of the building, accessed by a winding staircase from the main entrance. The layout was formerly with two equal lines of pews, until the modernisation when the Chapel of Remembrance was constructed. At that time the original stairs were removed and a staircase was erected from the new entrance. The Chapel of Remembrance could also be incorporated into the overall design of the space.
Elizabeth II (two colours – pre-1967 and post-1967)
The current fleet colour is held at Fleet Headquarters, HMAS Kuttabul, whilst the location of the colour presented during the reign of King George VI is unknown.
The main chapel has various stained glass windows, some naturally lit and others in cases with back-lights. This list circles the chapel to the right from the altar.
Chaplain Vivian Ward Thompson BA, died 9 January 1943
Australian Naval Reserve, WWI : RAN Reserve & RAN Volunteer Reserve – "Australia's first losses in the Great War were RANR personnel at Kaba Kaul, New Britain, 11 Sep 1914"
Two side chapels lead off the main chapel, at the right, one each for Protestant and Catholic worship. Both have access only from the main Chapel; the Catholic chapel is at the rear, the Protestant near the front. A door connects the two, and also gives access to a small robing room that is shared with the main chapel. Each chapel has seating for about 20 people with an altar and lectern.
The Chapel of Remembrance is accessed from the main entrance and then by several steps down, and occupies a portion of the area under the main chapel. It was officially opened on 25 August 1996 by Rear Admiral David Campbell, AM RAN, Flag Officer Naval Support Command, and dedicated by Principal Chaplains Michael Holtz AM RANR and Gareth Clayton RAN and Chaplain J.F.B. Connelly RAN.
The front wall is faceted to allow plaques to be placed on the wooden screens. Two rough-hewn posts stand in the body of the chapel. The altar is a simple wooden block of a sandstone plinth, standing on a raised area at the front wall.
Martin, Eric J. (1980). H.M.A. Naval Dockyard, Garden Island: a building conservation study of the historic buildings (Master of Built Environment, thesis). Kensington (Sydney), NSW: University of New South Wales.
Rivett, Norman (2010). From church to chapel: a historical tour of the Naval Chapel, Garden Island. Naval Historical Society of Australia.
H.M.A. Naval Dockyard (Garden Island, NSW) – Naval Chapel. Sydney: Royal Australian Navy. 1989.