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70 Years of Defence Science at the 'Bend

In 2009, DSTO celebrated 70 years of world-class research at Fishermans Bend in Melbourne.

70 years at Fishermans Bend

In August 1939, a month before the start of the Second World War, construction started on Australia’s first aeronautical research facility in Melbourne’s Fishermans Bend. 

Since that time, the facility, now known as DSTO Melbourne, has produced some of the most significant scientific achievements in Australia: the development of Jindivik, a subsonic unmanned jet-propelled target aircraft ; full-scale fatigue testing of aircraft; the Black Box flight recorder; composite bonded repair technology; and many more.

Today, DSTO Melbourne is the oldest surviving Commonwealth defence research laboratory in Australia.

The Wimperis legacy

The establishment of an aeronautical research facility was the recommendation of Henry Egerton Wimperis, the retiring Director of Scientific Research for the British Air Ministry who had been invited by the Australian Government to advise on the possibility of establishing an indigenous aeronautical research capability in Australia.

His report, submitted to Parliament in December 1937 recommended:

• the creation of an aeronautical research facility,
• the establishment of a Chair of Aeronautics at the University of Sydney, and
• the formation of an Australian Advisory Committee on Aeronautics.

On the basis of Wimperis’s recommendation, the Government acquired 10-hectares of land at Fishermans Bend.

Fishermans Bend – An aircraft hub

Fishermans Bend was an obvious choice of location, being close to Commonwealth Aircraft Corporate and the Government Aircraft Factory and with the Laverton RAAF base nearby. The facility, part of the then Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, was established to support the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), as well as civil aviation, and the aircraft and automotive industries.  During the war years, the laboratory was preoccupied with finding solutions to operational, manufacturing and design problems.  After WWII, long-term aeronautical research became the focus, particularly in relation to aircraft structures.

The laboratory’s pioneering work in estimating aircraft life through full-scale fatigue tests brought scientific acclaim and international prominence, and the laboratory became synonymous with aeronautical research in Australia and around the world.

Broadening areas of expertise

The main focus of work at Fishermans Bend remained on aircraft and aircraft systems until 1994 when ARL became part of the newly formed Aeronautical and Maritime Research laboratory, located over two sites in Melbourne, Maribyrnong and Fishermans Bend. 

Over the years, DSTO Melbourne, as it came to be known, increasingly became the centre of expertise in technologies underpinning the concept development, maintenance and operation of maritime and aeronautical military platforms.  The laboratory also made a significant contribution to land platforms and became a valuable source of expertise in the human sciences, aimed at optimising the performance and wellbeing of ADF personnel. In 2002, the decision was made to consolidate all DSTO activities in Melbourne onto one site at Fishermans Bend. Over the next five years, the site underwent extensive development to accommodate the additional research areas and to enhance some of the existing facilities on the site.  In 2007, the last of the Maribyrnong staff and operations were relocated to the ‘ Bend.

Fishermans Bend today

The Fishermans Bend site today boasts:

• 658 staff
• A state-of-the-art Aeronautical and Maritime Structural Test Laboratory, providing the capability to perform full-scale testing of both maritime and air structures
• An advanced composites fabrication facility, enabling DSTO to conduct research and development into advanced composite materials for both maritime and aeronautical applications.
• A purpose-built conference facility
• A million-dollar underwater test facility, to assist research into Australia’s next generation submarines
• The only R&D organisation in Australia to focus on research against chemical, biological and radiological threats.

DSTO Melbourne continues to provide integrated support to the force-in-being in crucial areas across the air, maritime and land domains.  In addition, it is increasingly involved in major projects that will shape the Defence Force of the future. 

The site’s contributions to future defence capability cover its work in support of the Joint Strike Fighter, the Air Warfare Destroyer, next generation submarines, hypersonic vehicles and other new platforms being acquired by the ADF.

Defence Science – no longer peripheral

As Peter Donovan suggests in his excellent history Anticipating Tomorrow’s Defence Needs: A Century of Australian Defence Science, Defence science today is a far cry from that of 1939. 

Today’s Defence scientists enjoy a much closer relationship with their Defence clients than previously, and their research is far more focussed on Defence applications.  Gone are the days when science was considered peripheral to “the business of waging war”.  Instead, contributions of Defence scientists are now considered essential in maintaining the “knowledge edge”.

For the past 70 years, researchers at Fishermans Bend have assisted Australia maintain that “knowledge edge”.  There is little doubt that over the next 70 years, the next generation will continue to do the same.

 

Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of these pages.  Please contact the DSTO Web Administrator if you identify any inaccuracies.

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