RAN Mine Depot Fyansford
Introduction
The depot operated only "for the duration" of some part of World War 2, and as a sub-depot of Swan Island Mine Depot; National Archives of Australia file listings suggest between 1942 and 1946. Fyansford is shown in the Navy List between July 1943 and January 1947.
The depot was located at the Barwon Paper Mill:
"The Barwon Paper Mill was erected by Andrew Miller in 1876 and commenced business in 1878. The architect was probably Joseph Watts, the known designer of the manager's house and adjacent cottage row. Locally quarried bluestone was the predominant building material. Water from the Barwon River is diverted at Baums Weir along the 900m long bluestone race and up into the mill, originally used to power the mill's waterwheel, which is no longer working. The water then returned to the river down the face of the building downstream of Buckleys Falls.
The mill closed in 1923 and was used as cool stores and for the manufacture of ice. During World War Two the mill was used a mine depot by the Royal Australian Navy. Later still the buildings were used for a fibreglass works and a box factory. It is currently privately owned and used as a light industrial complex, with a dozen or so tenants operating small businesses from sail making to furniture stripping and motor repairs. The mill cottages along Lower Paper Mill Road, also erected at the end of the 1870s and are each individually owned." (Source: Barwon and Moorabool River Reserves Management Plan Final Report May 2006)
A brief history of the mill with photographs can be found on Alexander Romanov-Hughes website.
Relationship to Swan Island Mine Depot
The following information comes from the May 1948 newsletter of the RAN Mine Depot Swan Island:
"During the war subsidiary Depots were opened at Fyansford and North Geelong for assembly of Mk.14/15 and 17/17 Units and storage respectively under the supervision of Lieut. Comdr. S.S. James M.B.E. R.A.N. who, assisted by a staff of 52 male and female employees, serviced R.N. and R.A.N. minelayers in addition to assembling one large shipment for use in European waters. This enabled Swan Island staff to give more time to magnetic and loop services and to carry out instructional classes for the benefit of R.A.A.F. and a number of Assistants (M.D.)"
The above quote seems to suggest that the Fyansford site undertook processes formerly carried out at Swan Island, i.e. the insertion of the TNT-filled charge cases into the mine shell and the fitting to sinkers but not the fitting of primers and detonators. However this would not have precluded the storage of detonators and primers at Fyansford for subsequent separate issue to HMAS Bungaree.
File dates of relevant files in the National Archives of Australia, particularly NAA: MP150/1, 569/216/1342, suggest that the Fyansford depot project was initiated in 1942 when leasing of the site was initiated.
However it remains unclear to the author as to exactly what was done at Fyansford, noting that each Mk 17 mine had a TNT filling of 500 lbs and the apparent absence of storage suitable for large quantities of mass detonating explosives at the site. It may well be that wartime expediency prevailed in this case. There are anecdotal reports of mines being "assembled and packed with explosives" at Fyansford.
The following quote describes British policy for processing mines for embarkation during the war:
"With regard to the actual preparation of the mines for laying, as opposed to their assembly, it had previously been the practice for this to be done in full by the minelayers themselves. This policy was reversed, and the preparation of the mines and their examination after transit, e.g. assembly at Frater [mine depot] and examination and embarkation at Immingham, became the responsibility of the depot organization, manned by civilian personnel under the Director of Armament Supply at the Admiralty. Work on board the minelayers was thus confined to carrying out the final functioning tests, setting the required depth, making the necessary adjustments to flooder clocks and delayed release mechanisms, &c., if fitted, and inserting the primers and detonators. Under this scheme, fewer skilled ratings were required in the minelayers, work in the depots was more rationally spaced, and the turn-round between successive operations was reduced to the time required to embark the mines, refuel, and afford the necessary rest and relaxation to the crews." (J. S. Cowie, Mines, Minelayers and Minelaying, Oxford University Press, 1949, p. 117)
Magazine Footwear
There are anecdotal reports of employees at Fyansford wearing magazine footwear. These would not be required for handling filled charge cases as TNT is a non-dusty explosive. They would be required if mine primers filled with CE (Tetryl) were being stored or handled.
The author received confirmation of the presence of magazine footwear at Fyansford by a reader of this page who advised me that a large quantity of leather boots with wooden soles were still (2025) present at the Paper Mill having apparently been abandoned when the Navy vacated the site some 80 years previously. Moreover, photos of the boots and unopened boxes of boots were provided.
The boots are stamped with the pattern number 421. This identifies to a standard leather army boot of World War 2 so it seems that the Fyansford boots were a "special" which combined the leather uppers of the standard boot with a wooden sole and heel. The AWM has an example of the standard boot and also a women's safety shoe that used wooden pegs to secure the heel. The wooden soled and heeled boots may have become surplus when better safety footware became available later in the war.
© Photo courtesy of Tony Martin
North Geelong Storage Site
The author has been unable to determine the location of the North Geelong storage site, although I'm guessing it would have been in the vicinity of Cunningham Pier where the mines were embarked by HMAS "Bungaree". This was a different facility to the annex at Ford's motor plant where the mine shells were manufactured. I'm advised by Brad Pearson that:
"The Ford Geelong annexe, where the mines were manufactured, was built just across the road from the main Geelong plant in 1940. After WW2 it became the Ford parts and distribution centre. In 1964 Ford product development was established in the building. Product development moved out in 2007 and into a new building. In 2009 the building was demolished and the land purchased by Bunnings. Bunnings built one of their retail stores on the site. [Norlane]"
The North Geelong storage site was apparently not constructed until 1943. Secretary, Dept of Navy letter to Secretary, Dept of Defence of 20 February 1943 referencing War Cabinet minute 2573 of 11 January 1943 said:
"provision is being made to provide a new Bulk Mine Store at Geelong, adjacent to the Ford Motor Works where the mine bodies are being made".
The recipient of this letter sought confirmation that the store would not be erected on land owned by the Ford Motor Company however there is no reply to this on the file. (NAA A2671,238/1942)
Employees
One employee of the depot who has been identified is G. F Bloy. Having commenced as a labourer at Swan Island on 3 July 1939, he was transferred to Fyansford on 13 April 1943 where he was "Storehouseman responsible to the Officer-in-Charge at Fyansford. Assisted in setting up Fyansford Mine Depot for the assembly of mines. Was responsible for the custody and accounting for all stores. Supervised the loading of mine lays in H.M.A.S. "Bungaree" at Geelong." He returned to Swan Island on 21 January 1946, later becoming a Foreman of Stores, Grade B, the rank he held when the Swan Island depot was closing in 1960. (RAN Mine Depot, Swan Island letter of 12 April 1960)
More Information
The National Archives of Australia have a considerable number of files and plans relating to the Fyansford mine depot which no doubt would help to understand how the Swan Island - Fyansford - Geelong operation was organised.
A UK Ministry Defence film titled Minelaying is available on Youtube. It was filmed 30 years after the end of World War 2. Its demonstration of minelaying is similar to what would have taken place on HMAS Bungaree, with the proviso that Bungaree was a commercial cargo ship converted for minelaying. The film gives some idea of the loading operations that would have taken place at Cunningham Pier, and the size and appearance of mines.
A video podcast from the Naval Historical Society of Australia titled "HMS Bungaree" describes the Swan Island operation during World War 2.
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