The Petone Navals

The Petone Navals were a volunteer artillery unit based in Petone and comprised of people from the town. They officially existed from 1883 to 1910 but carried on in different forms into the 1940’s.  Judging by frequent comments in the newspapers they were held in high regard by the people of Petone and remembered long after they ceased to exist.

The Navals were one of many volunteer military units operating in New Zealand in the C19th. Volunteers were an essential part of New Zealand's defensive arrangements at this time. The country had a comparatively large coastline and few resources with which defend it. We couldn’t afford to maintain a permanent and professional military force of any significance.

Civilian Militias had been in operation from the time of European settlement in the 1840’s and were legally mandated in 1858 with the passing of the Militia Act. This authorised the formation of citizen militia units for land and coastal duties. The Act provided some government funding and permitted each unit to elect their own officers. Each formation was responsible for choosing and providing its own uniform. The units came in various forms – infantry, cavalry and artillery. The artillery units were often naval.

The first unit of Naval Volunteers was the Auckland Volunteer Coastguard, which formed in 1860. Other ports followed and by the 1880s there were 20 units in existence, including one in Petone.  In 1883 these units were officially redesignated Naval Artillery Volunteers and were given the primary responsibility man coastal gun batteries. They supplemented a small number of regular soldiers known as the Permanent Militia which at this time only contained 120 artillerymen.

Volunteers were initially formed to deal with conflict with Maori. However in the 1860’s the focus turned increasingly to external enemies or at least those perceived to be enemies. And the main foe was Russia.

Why Russia? During this period Russia and Britain were engaged in a protracted conflict in the Crimea, India and Afghanistan. New Zealand felt a strong sense of loyalty to the mother country. Russia also had a presence in the Pacific, with a fleet based at Vladivostok. From here Russian warships occasionally made unannounced visits to the South Pacific which were met with alarm.

The withdrawal of imperial forces from New Zealand in 1870 led to a developing awareness of how vulnerable the country would be in the event of an attack. There were no coastal defences of any consequence and assistance in the form of the Royal Navy was a long way away. Fears intensified after a hoax article was run in the Auckland newspaper, the Daily Southern Cross in 1873. The article proclaimed that war had been declared between England and Russia, and that a Russian naval cruiser, the Kaskowiski, had attacked Auckland. The article created panic, despite the name of the Russian cruiser being a bit of a giveaway that it was a fabrication. The writer of the article, David Luckie, had hoped that it would lead his compatriots to take the Russian threat seriously. And it seemed to have worked with the government commissioning the first reports on the colony's defences. It was now clearly understood that the defence of individual ports was the responsibility of each self-governing colony.

The fear of Russian invasion waxed and waned throughout the latter part of the C19th. The scares followed a pattern, building when conflict between Britain and Russia escalated then calming down until the next incident. Fears of Russian invasion were strongest in the 1880’s. In 1884 a report by Sir William Jervois, the Governor of New Zealand, recommended forts be constructed at the country's four main ports. The next year work started in earnest on the construction of what eventually became seventeen forts, after yet another incident, when Russia occupied a fort in Afghanistan. By this stage many New Zealanders considered raids or invasion to be inevitable and politicians recognised this and responded accordingly. The fear of Russia finally abated when they were defeated by Japan in 1904.

In Wellington four forts were constructed around the Miramar peninsula and on the western side of the harbour from Kelburn to Ngauranga. The Navals manned Fort Buckley at Kaiwharawhara and Fort Kelburne at Ngauranga. Kelburne was the more important of the two forts and eventually took over the functions of its southern neighbour. Fort Kelburne was demolished in the 1960’s to make way for the motorway.

The Petone Navals were part of the Wellington Navals until they formed their own unit in 1883, becoming Garrison Artillery Company, no.2, as part of the NZ Garrison Artillery. They retained their naval uniforms, cutters and a boat station at Petone. They also installed a 64 pounder on Petone beach.

Many of the recruits came from local sports clubs. They were initially led by Capt. H.S. Fitzherbert and Lieut. David Buick. Meetings were held at the Marine Retreat Hotel, before moving to their own drill-hall on the corner of Udy and Nelson Streets in June 1883. By 1886 they are recorded as having 76 members.

In 1895 the Wellington and Petone Naval Artillery Volunteers amalgamated and in 1896 became the Wellington Naval Artillery Volunteer Brigade with Petone designated B Battery. Edwin Davy from the from the Petone Navals assumed overall command. Things changed again in 1902 with the formation of the New Zealand Garrison Artillery Volunteers. The Petone Navals were now officially designated as no.6 company. 

In 1910 the volunteer units were officially replaced by the Territorials with artillery units divided into field and garrison. The Petone contingent was now known as no.5 Company Garrison Artillery. The naval uniform was dropped at this time to be replaced by khaki. 

There were several more name changes. In 1922 they became the 17^th Medium Battery and in 1940 the 17^th field battery. However they were still often referred to as the Petone Navals during this latter period. And they continued to be based at the Petone Navals drill hall.

The Navals probably came to an end in the late 1940’s when the Territorial artillery units were absorbed into the Royal New Zealand Artillery.  The Navals drill hall was owned by the Valley Fibrous Plaster Company by 1951, suggesting that the facility no longer served a military function.   

The Navals main responsibility was to man the forts at Ngauranga and Kaiwharawhara. They were regarded as the best heavy gun shooting battery in New Zealand and held the shield for the best shooting and best trained Garrison Artillery Company. In 1907 they set a world record of 40 hits from 40 rounds. 

They also used their cutters to rescue people in the harbour for which they were known as the Floating Ambulance. 

They regularly competed with distinction in rowing and sailing events held on Wellington harbour.