Victorian Navy Muster

About the Muster Database.

• Inclusion: Any person referred to as having served on board one of the permanent ships of the Victorian Navy, one of the converted ships during manoeuvres or in either division of the Naval Brigades is listed as having served in the Victorian Navy. Likewise any member of the Royal (British) Navy on temporary attachment to the Victorian Navy is included.
  
  

• Duplicated Names: It is possible that the same person may be listed twice. Even if two individuals have the same initial and surname, unless there is reason to believe that they are the same person, the decision has been made to err on the side of caution rather than risk removing the only reference to a particular individual.
  
  

• Birth Dates: A birthdate with a year but 00 for the date and 00 for the month indicates that the individual's age was stated in a particular year. Subtracting the age from the year results in an approximate birth year as the person may actually have been x years and 11 months in January and hence would have been born 11+1 years before the year being subtracted from.
  
  

• Overlap of Victorian and Australian Navies: Although technically the Victorian Navy transformed into the Australian Navy on 1 March 1901 the men and ships did not radically change until the arrival of the new ships and higher manning levels in 1910. Names of Victorians that arise from 1901 until 1910 have been included in the Victorian Navy Database. All of these individuals will have served on ships of the Victorian Navy and most will have served prior to 1901.
  
  

• Non-Navy Personnel: There are a handfull of individuals in the database who did not serve in the Victorian Navy. Individuals, such as Alexander Wilson who designed the Steam Steering Engine on Cerberus, have been included because of the important contribution that they made.
  
  

• Women: Although hundreds of women had surreptitiously served in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic wars and earlier, this was not the case with the Victorian Navy. By the time the Victorian Colonial Navy was formed in 1856 tighter fitting uniforms had been introduced which made it harder for women to disguise themselves. In addition the small size of the Victorian Navy and its frequency of being in port made disguise even harder.
  
  

• Non-Whites: Mostly the Victorian Navy was manned by white european males. Known exceptions include Thomas Bungalene, an aboriginal Kurnai Man from Gippsland, Henry (Black Harry) Moore from Jamaica & a sailor captured in a photo of a ship's parade. It is likely that more than 30 other members of the Naval Reserve also described as having dark complexion and dark eyes (as was Harry Moore & was also the case with Koorie soldiers in WWI) were also non-white. There was obviously no policy of discrimination based on race. To date no asian members of the Victorian Navy have been identified.
  
  

• Victorian Navy or Victorian Naval Forces: At the insistence of the British Government the navy of the Colony of Victoria was officially known as the Victorian Naval Forces. However in Certificates of Service, the public press and everyday communication the term Victorian Navy was used within the colony.
  
  

• Sworn in as Police: Initially there was no legal basis for a colony to have a navy. As HMCS Victoria had not been registered, the Merchant Marine Act 1854 could not apply. The crew were therefore sworn in under the 1853 Police Act. Crew were given a navy and police rank eg Able Seaman/Constable. This system continued until midnight on 31 March 1860 when the crew was discharged from the Police Department. The ship was then returned to the control of the Department of Chief Secretary.¹
  
  

• Naval Brigade or Naval Reserve: From 1859 until 1871 Victoria operated a volunteer Naval Brigade consisting of the Williamstown Corps and the Sandridge Corps. In 1871 the Naval Brigade was disbanded and reformed as the Naval Reserve consisting of the Williamstown Division and the Sandridge Division. As the suburb of Sandridge changed its name to Port Melbourne in 1884 the Sandridge division also changed its name. In 1885 the Naval Reserve was disbanded and reformed as the Naval Brigade consisting of the Williamstown and Port Melbourne Divisions.