Where to look for Australia's quirky warships

Did Australia operate warships that could be considered quirky?

Yes; the strongest examples are likely in the separate colonial navies before Australian Federation.

A viewer asks whether Australia operated anything that would qualify as a quirky warship. The strongest examples lie in the pre-Federation period, when the separate colonies maintained their own naval forces. That fragmented setting produced many unusual vessels. Local defence needs and separate colonial procurement could create more variety than a unified national navy.