Australia's first warships built by engineer now mostly forgotten
Engineer Arthur Edward Cutler built Australia's first navy ships and turned a mudflat into a major dockyard by 1920.
The father of the Australian Navy is now largely forgotten, but the Newcastle Industrial Heritage Association is drawing attention to his work with a recent open day at Delprat Cottage. He oversaw construction of Australia's first destroyers and cruiser at Sydney's Cockatoo Island between 1903 and 1913.
He then took charge of Walsh Island in Newcastle, transforming a mudflat into an engineering marvel that employed about 2,500 skilled workers by 1920. The dockyard built six merchant ships in about two and a half years during World War I, proving Australia could build ships on a large scale.
The heritage group holds his retirement speech and a detailed wooden gift given to him in 1922, items recently donated by his family. He retired to Port Stephens in 1924 and died at Myall Lakes in the mid-1930s.
- 2,500 skilled workers
- Workers at peak
- Seven years
- Time to build
- 400 acres
- Site reclaimed
- 8 feet above high water
- Height raised
Why it mattersHis name is mostly forgotten today. But he was once seen as crucial to Australia's naval power.
AustraliaNewcastle's maritime heritage shows why local engineering expertise was central to Australia's WWI response and naval building capability.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 4 h ago
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