The Story of Sub Base Platypus

The Harbour Trust acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and Owners of the land encompassing Sub Base Platypus, North Sydney at Neutral Bay: the Cammeraygal People. We pay respect to their Elders past, present and emerging.

Prior to European colonisation, the local Cammeraygal People camped in sandstone caves on the harbour foreshore and lived on a diet of fish, possum and kangaroo, as well as native roots and berries.

In the early 19th century, the areas surrounding Sub Base Platypus were known by two Aboriginal names – Wurru-birri, which referred to the western side of Kurraba Point, and Wéyé Wéyé, which referred to the head of Careening Cove.

In 1876, a small gasworks was established at the northern end of the site, fronting Neutral Bay, by James Fell and Charles Watt. The business partners were both former AGL employees and wanted to capitalise on a new opportunity; namely, NSW Parliament had recently authorised the manufacture and supply of gas to residents of the North Shore.

Coal was delivered to the gasworks by boat and heated in large ovens known as retorts. This process caused the gas to condense, after which it was purified in a lime solution, and then either stored under pressure in a holder or (distributed by a network of pipes) reticulated to customers.

Following Fell’s death in 1882, the business was liquidated. Two years later, the North Shore Gas Company assumed control of the plant and steered it through a period of major expansion as the population of the North Shore continued to grow.

Notable additions included the construction of a Coal Store – a direct response to a coal miner strike in 1889 that had disrupted the supply of coal to the site.

Consumer demand for gas increased during the early 20th century, which led to the North Shore Gas Company establishing a larger plant at Oyster Cove, Waverton in 1917. This gasworks used modern vertical retorts, which were more economical than the inclined retorts in use at the Neutral Bay.

With the onset of the Great Depression, the company was no longer in a position to bear the costs associated the ageing infrastructure at Neutral Bay. Consequently, the Neutral Bay Gasworks ceased operating in 1932.

Galvanised by the bombing of Pearl Harbour in December 1941, the Commonwealth began equipping the nation’s forces to retaliate against attacks on Australia. Relevantly, the Government resolved to convert the former Neutral Bay Gasworks into a torpedo factory due to its harbourside location and proximity to the Navy Torpedo Depot at Garden Island.

In March 1942, the Government took possession of the Neutral Bay Gasworks, with a view to housing a torpedo factory in the existing buildings. Due to the demands of their production program, however, it wasn't long before they began demolishing buildings and constructing a dedicated factory. The only buildings retained from the gasworks were the Retort House, High Street Gatehouse, Exhauster House and parts of the Coal Stores.

Two torpedo maintenance workshops were erected on the waterfront and the Royal Australian Navy Torpedo Maintenance Establishment Building (RANTME Factory) was built at the southern end. The RANTME Factory featured offices and facilities for naval staff as well as a large factory space for manufacturing and maintaining torpedoes.

Of the 200 civilian workers employed at the torpedo factory, one in four were women and they drew praise for their dedication, eye for detail and the excellence of their work. Despite being the primary source of torpedoes for Australian, British and US Navies in the South Pacific, none of the torpedoes built at the factory were ever used during World War II.

Following World War II, the torpedo workshops continued to service the British Navy submarine fleet based at HMAS Penguin and the Australian Navy’s destroyer fleet. The sheds on the waterfront were converted to submarine workshops and torpedo maintenance was transferred to the RANTME Factory.

In 1967, the torpedo factory was repurposed as a base for the emerging Royal Australian Navy (RAN) fleet of six Oberon-class submarines, including the newly-commissioned HMAS Oxley. The base was christened HMAS Platypus, and provided the Australian Submarine Squadron with an operational headquarters and communications base.

Existing building were converted into submarine maintenance and repair facilities and a free standing wharf was constructed to accommodate up to six submarines at the site. As a concession to locals, who were concerned about noise and water pollution, the wharf was equipped with service points to enable submarine batteries to be charged by shore services instead of noisy diesel engines.

HMAS Platypus had a complement of 37 officers and 137 sailors, and off-duty personnel were accommodated at HMAS Penguin in Balmoral. During the first 14 years of the base, personnel were trained exclusively at HMS Dolphin in Gosport on the south coast of the UK. Following the establishment of the RAN Submarine School at HMAS Platypus in 1981, they learned submarine basics – and received their ‘category training’ (i.e. specialty) training – on site.

When the Navy upgraded to new Collins Class submarines in the 1990s, the Commonwealth concluded that HMAS Platypus was not suited for this new class of vessel. Consequently, all remaining submarines were transferred to HMAS Stirling in Western Australia, the torpedo works were transferred to a missile maintenance facility in Kingswood, and HMAS Platypus closed in 1999.

In 2005, the former HMAS Platypus submarine base was handed over to the Harbour Trust by the Commonwealth Government. The agency was tasked with rehabilitating and remediating the site to enable public access. Following extensive consultation with the community, the Harbour Trust developed the Platypus Renewal Project Plan.

In 2017, following extensive remediation and renewal work, the site was renamed Sub Base Platypus. When the Harbour Trust officially launched Sub Base Platypus in May 2018, it was the first time the site had been opened to the public in 150 years.

The Harbour Trust’s skilled Volunteer Restoration Team played a crucial role relaunching the site as a public domain with strong historical ties. To complement a shaded barbeque area and an over-water walkway linking Sub Base Platypus to Kesterton Park, our volunteers constructed a maritime-theme playground.

Paying homage to the site’s history as both a submarine base and torpedo factory, the playground features an Oberon Submarine centrepiece as well as periscopes and torpedo-shaped stepping logs corresponding with the phonetic alphabet. Works to revitalise and enhance the site are ongoing.

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Other helpful links

1. Visit Sub Base Platypus
2. The history of Sub Base Platypus
3. About the Harbour Trust