Gage Roads is an area in the outer harbour area of Fremantle Harbour in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

offshore from Fremantle, Western Australia. It incorporates a deep water sea channel as part of its function. Gage Roads serves as a shipping lane and anchorage for sea traffic heading towards the seaport of Fremantle. Gage Roads was the location of the 1987 America's Cup,

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

lies to the west of Gage Roads, Owen Anchorage and Cockburn Sound lie to the south. The local

Gage Roads Brewing Company Gage Roads Brew Co (formerly Gage Roads Brewing Company) is an Australian craft brewery located just outside the city of Fremantle in Palmyra, Western Australia. It is one of Australia's largest independent breweries. In 2016, its new-world pal ...

, as well as the local marine engineering compan
Gage Roads Marine
are named after the area.

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 ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

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

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...

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 o ...

of Gage Roads is covered by

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

Naming

Gage Roads was named after Rear-Admiral Sir William Hall Gage who was the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

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 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 Leighton Battery at Buckland Hill, Mosman Park, Western Australia, was part of the Coastal defences of Australia during World War II and the Fremantle Fortress, protecting Fremantle Harbour. The battery initially consisted of two 6-inch Mk ...

) on

Buckland Hill Buckland Hill is a low hill in the Brecon Beacons National Park in the county of Powys in Wales. Sitting transversely across the Usk valley between the river and the village of Bwlch, it provides excellent panoramic views down the valley and ac ...

were part of the main anti-aircraft 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 The Rottnest Channel Swim is an annual open water swimming event from Cottesloe Beach through Gage Roads to Rottnest Island, off the coast of Western Australia, near Perth. Format The distance is and it is one of the largest open water swi ...

(an annual swimming event) start at Cottesloe beach, cross Gage Roads and finish at

Notes

{{reflist, 30em Indian Ocean 1987 America's Cup Fremantle Harbour Roadsteads