Retired patrol ship opens as museum

Last Thursday the 8^th of September saw a celebration for the official opening of the HMAS Gladstone II at East Shores. Gladstone Ports Corporation and the Gladstone Maritime Museum held a ceremony for the official opening with those who assisted in the relocation and restoration of the ship.

Commissioned on the 8^th of September 1984, the Gladstone was used in Australia’ fisheries protection, immigration, customs and drug law enforcement. In 2005 it was announced that the ships decommission was pending and a group of dedicated government and local business representatives with a group of maritime historians rallied to secure the city of Gladstone as the final resting place of its namesake ship.
On the 13^th of March 2007, after serving for almost 23 years and covering 618,000 nautical miles, the ship was decommissioned in her homeport of Cairns and gifted to the Gladstone Maritime Museum.

The ship was then moored in Auckland Inlet from 2007 and then to an anchor berth in the Gladstone Marina, and finally relocated in 2014 to its permanent position at GPC’s East Shores Precinct where final restoration and maintenance works were undertaken.