HMAS Bunbury was the last of the 14 Fremantle-class patrol boats, commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy on 15 December 1984 and serving until 11 February 2006. Built at NQEA in Cairns and homeported at HMAS Stirling and later Darwin, she spent more than two decades on high-tempo fisheries, border protection, and regional security patrols, regularly apprehending illegal foreign fishing vessels and supporting operations such as RELEX, CRANBERRY and CLEARWATER across northern Australia, the Southern Ocean, and the South West Pacific. Throughout her career she also fostered strong ties with her namesake city, repeatedly exercising Freedom of Entry to Bunbury and symbolising both local pride and the tireless, often unseen work of patrol boat crews safeguarding Australia’s maritime approaches.
