Navy’s Young Endeavour turns heads at Geelong waterfront

Royal Australian Navy training ship, the Young Endeavour, arrived at Wangim Walk in Geelong on Saturday morning. Photos: ELLIE CLARINGBOLD

WITH its sails furled and young crew perched high on the 33m mast, the tall ship Young Endeavour made a striking entrance into Geelong today, drawing eyes along the waterfront as it completed an 11-day voyage from Adelaide.

The Royal Australian Navy training ship berthed shortly after 10am at Wangim Walk, near the Royal Geelong Yacht Club, where it was greeted by family and friends.

The brigantine rigged tall ship — a bicentenary gift to the people of Australia in 1988 from the United Kingdom — is under its final Australian circumnavigation before it is retired and replaced with a larger vessel in mid-2026.

The Young Endeavour berthed shortly after 10am at Wangim Walk, with its youth crew aloft the 33m mast and yards.

Now 37 years old, the Young Endeavour completes a seven-month circumnavigation of Australia every five years. Over that period, more than 300 young Australians aged between 16-23 will join one of 14 voyages, travelling as far north as Thursday Island and as far south as Albany.

The crew sail the ship 24 hours a day, in all types of conditions.

Acting commanding officer Mike Gough said the aim of the program is to enhance its youth crew’s communication skills, teamwork, leadership and sense of community responsibility.

“What we do for the first seven days is teach them how to sail the ship. So, we teach them how to work the sails and about safety on deck; we teach them navigation, the collision avoidance rules and also some sail theory,” he said.

“Day eight is Command Day where we hand over control of the ship to the youth crew for 24 hours.

“We find that that tends to be the period of the voyage where they learn the most about themselves, about teamwork and leadership.”

The Young Endeavour will hold a free public open day tomorrow (Sunday, October 5), with visitors able to explore the ship, meet the crew and hear about their voyage experience.

In the coming days, the Young Endeavour’s next youth crew will embark for Sydney.

The program will return to Geelong in January and February, and applications for voyages are now open.

For more information, visit youngendeavour.gov.au