HMAS Diamantina
Two ships of the
Royal Australian Navy have been named for the Diamantina River in
Queensland which rises north-west of
Longreach and flows south-west to form the Warburton River.
The first
HMAS Diamantina (K-377/F-377/A-266/GOR-266) was a River class
frigate laid down by Walkers Limited at
Maryborough in
Queensland on
12 April 1943, launched on
6 April 1944 by Mrs. W. J. F. Riordan, wife of the then Chairman of Committees in the
House of Representatives and later Minister for the Navy and commissioned at Hervey Bay in Queensland on
27 April 1945.
Diamantina paid off to reserve on
9 August 1946 but recommissioned as an oceanographic survey ship on
22 June 1959.
HMAS Diamantina paid off on
29 February 1980, the last of the wartime frigates still in service with the Royal Australian Navy. She was handed over to the Queensland Maritime Museum Association to be permanently berthed as an exhibit in the old graving dock at
Brisbane.
The second
HMAS Diamantina is a Huon class minehunter.