MSA Brolga (1102)

MSA (Minesweeper Auxiliary) Brolga (1102) was a minesweeper operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) between 1988 and 2003. She was constructed in Fremantle, Western Australia by Australian Shipbuilding Industries (now Tenix) in 1975, and first served as the lighthouse tender Lumen for the Australian Department of Transport.

She was purchased by the RAN on 10 February 1988, and entered service as a Minesweeper Auxiliary (Small). Brolga was one of three Minesweeper Auxiliaries operating as part of the Craft of Opportunity (COOP) ProgramSharpe, Richard (ed.), Janes Fighting Ships 2000-2001, Janes Information Group, London, 2000. ISBN 0-7106-2018-7 under the command of the Mine Warfare and Clearance Diving Group, along with MSA Bandicoot and MSA Walleroo.

MSA Brolga saw operational service off Bougainville, supporting the Peace Monitoring Group during Operation Belisi.

In 2003, Brolga was sold at auction for AU$255,000. She was returned to Fremantle, Western Australia, where statements given at the time of the auction indicated that she was to be used as a mothership for a fishing fleet. Instead, the ship was used for recreational purposes for 2 years, such as in a local protest for Port Coogee, and then sold to a private customer.

Converted to a diving and salvage platform, the renamed Retriever 1 was suspected to be linked to the disappearance of conman Peter Foster in January...
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