In 1911, when the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) was created, the Australian Minister for Defence, Senator George Pearce, described it as a 'navy within a navy'. 2 By 1960, in a brief preceding the visit of Vice Admiral Henry Burrell, RAN, to investigate potential naval acquisitions, Britain's Military Branch concluded: The Australians are very independent people. They will welcome Admiralty advice and assistance but will not tolerate ready-made ideas being thrust upon them...Our own ideas must be worked in obliquely and presented as being designed for the benefit of the R.A.N. not merely as a prop or an adjunct of the R.N. in the Far East. 3 Indeed, between the end of the Second World War and the onset of the Vietnam War, the RAN underwent significant changes, which reduced the influence of the Royal Navy (RN), but did not completely eradicate it. A British Naval Station was established in Australia in 1859 and the influence of the RN reverberated throughout the RAN into the 1960s and to a degree, continues up to the present day. Robert Hyslop has asserted that: The administrative tone and character of the [Australian] Naval Board was strongly British, simply tacked on to the Australian political fabric. To have a ready-made navy, Australia needed a ready-to-work naval administration and in 1911 it was not possible to allow time for this administration to evolve out of local conditions and experience. 4 Although the administration and composition of the RAN was very much British in character, the Australians also gained practical experience of wartime operations working alongside the RN. During the first fifty years of its existence, the RAN reverted to RN control during the First World War, was initially placed on a war footing as a result of Britain's Imperial War Telegram during the Second World War and also served within a Commonwealth command