Gage Roads is an outer harbour area of

Fremantle Harbour Fremantle Harbour is Western Australia's largest and busiest general cargo port and an important historical site. The inner harbour handles a large volume of sea containers, vehicle imports and livestock exports, cruise shipping and naval visits ...

. It is situated in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

offshore from

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, and incorporates a deep water sea channel. Gage Roads serves both as a

shipping lane A sea lane, sea road or shipping lane is a regularly used navigable route for large water vessels (ships) on wide waterways such as oceans and large lakes, and is preferably safe, direct and economic. During the Age of Sail, they were determined ...

and as an

anchorage Anchorage, officially the Municipality of Anchorage, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Alaska. With a population of 291,247 at the 2020 census, it contains nearly 40 percent of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolita ...

for sea traffic heading towards the seaport of Fremantle. With

Rottnest Island Rottnest Island (), often colloquially referred to as "Rotto", is a Islands of Perth, Western Australia, island off the coast of Western Australia, located west of Fremantle. A sandy, low-lying island formed on a base of aeolianite limestone, ...

lying to the west of Gage Roads and Owen Anchorage and

Cockburn Sound Cockburn Sound () is an inlet of the Indian Ocean on the coast of Western Australia. It extends from the south of the mouth of the Swan River at Fremantle for about to Point Peron near Rockingham. The total area of the sound is about . It ...

to the south, Gage Roads was the location of the

1987 America's Cup The 1987 America's Cup was the twenty-sixth challenge for the America's Cup. The American challenger '' Stars & Stripes 87'', sailed by Dennis Conner, beat the Australian defender '' Kookaburra III'', sailed by Iain Murray, in a four-race swe ...

Coastal geology

The area is the most northern of one of four coastal basins formed from the flooding of a depression between

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

aeolianite Eolianite or aeolianite is any rock formed by the lithification of sediment deposited by aeolian processes; that is, the wind. In common use, however, the term refers specifically to the most common form of eolianite: coastal limestone consisting ...

ridges running north-south, and the subsequent deposition of east-west

Holocene The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...

banks. The

seabed The seabed (also known as the seafloor, sea floor, ocean floor, and ocean bottom) is the bottom of the ocean. All floors of the ocean are known as seabeds. The structure of the seabed of the global ocean is governed by plate tectonics. Most of ...

of Gage Roads is covered by

seagrass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine (ocean), marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four Family (biology), families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and ...

Naming

The term "roads" in the context of maritime navigation, refers to a navigable waterway or channel that leads to a harbour or port. Gage Roads was named after Rear-Admiral Sir William Hall Gage who was the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

Commander-in-Chief, East Indies, when James Stirling was surveying the Swan River in 1826.

Shipping reports

Gage Roads is identified in shipping reports listing ships at anchor prior to entering the port of Fremantle.

Anchorage

At certain times, over 10 ships can be seen anchored in Gage Roads waiting to enter the port of Fremantle. In addition to these waiting ships, oversized ships that are unable to enter the inner harbour due to size or

draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...

are required to anchor in Gage Roads.

Cruising

In the early 1900s, the local boat SS ''Zephyr'' regularly took cruises in Gage Roads. In the 2000s, the has used Gage Roads for short sailing cruises.

Wartime

During the World War II era, the Leighton Guns (also known as Leighton Battery) on Buckland Hill were part of the main

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...

defence of the Gage Roads area. The guns were still operable into the Gage Roads area in the 1950s.

Swimming

Swimmers in the Rottnest Channel Swim (an annual swimming event) start at Cottesloe beach, cross Gage Roads and finish at

References

{{reflist Indian Ocean 1987 America's Cup Fremantle Harbour Roadsteads