Garden Island is an inner-city locality of Sydney, Australia, and the location of a major Royal Australian Navy (RAN) base.

It is located to the north-east of the Sydney central business district and juts out into Port Jackson, immediately to the north of the suburb of Potts Point.

Used for government and naval purposes since the earliest days of the colony of Sydney, it was originally a completely-detached island but was joined to the Potts Point shoreline by major land reclamation work during World War II.

Immediately south and above Garden Island on the Potts Point ridgeline is HMAS Kuttabul, the RAN's major administrative, training and logistics support establishment for the Sydney area.

[2]- It was renamed Garden Island in 1788 after it was planted in the first months of European settlement in Australia, to serve as a kitchen-garden by officers and crew of the First Fleet vessel HMS Sirius.

[3] Initials carved into a sandstone rock on the site are believed to be the oldest colonial graffiti in Australia, comprising the letters "FM 1788," representing Frederick Meredith who served as Sirius' steward.

[4] On 7 September 1811, ownership of Garden Island was declared to have transferred to the Governor's estate with produce dedicated for the exclusive use of Government House.

The transfer had practical effect but due to an administrative error it was not formally registered, leaving the land in the legal ownership of the Navy, which successfully sought its return in 1866.

[8] Despite the A£175,000 cost, the acquisition was opposed by Admiral Ragnar Colvin, as it would be expensive and difficult to maintain, would be unable to accommodate the draught of ships being acquired for the RAN, and would be incredibly risky to tow from England to Australia.

[10] The Captain Cook Graving Dock was formally opened by Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester in his role as the Governor-General of Australia, with the ribbon cutting performed by the bow of the frigate HMAS Lachlan.

[13] Other options, such as preserving the crane as a heritage structure and tourist attraction, restoring it to working order, or converting it to a new purpose, were ruled out due to cost and the risk to security at the naval base.

The wharves on the western side of the island have sufficient depth of water to berth the largest United States Navy aircraft carriers.

[4] Private pre-booked bus groups are allowed to transit through the naval base and dockyard to the heritage precinct under strict conditions.

[23] The RAN and the Department of Defence have opposed these proposals due to the security risks and loss of capability the increased civilian presence would bring, and the enormous cost of replicating the existing capability at a new location (a 2013 defence white paper estimated a cost of over $6 billion, although naval personnel stated that this did not include the creation of support facilities like the graving dock, or relocating supporting companies and industries like Thales).