Remarkable:
Stories of Australians and their boats

Story submissions

The below stories were successfully selected for inclusion in the Remarkable exhibition, and underwent further editing and curation before touring regional Australia.

Sea Legs – Albany’s Historic Whaling Station

‘BLOOOWSSS… SHE BLOOOWS!' The call is quickly swept away by blistering winds that batter the ship, as it struggles through heavy swell in heated pursuit of whales. Cheynes III whale chaser Captain, Cheslyn [Ches] Stubbs, stands at the bow, hand on harpoon, waiting for the crucial moment…

'BOOM!’ The harpoon leaves the gun, racing towards the whale. A yell lost in the howling wind, signals the unthinkable. The Captain, who a moment ago was standing strong, now lays prostrate on the gun-deck. His left leg is missing… wrenched off by the harpoon rope… With his lifeblood draining away, the race is on to save him… this far out to sea, chances are slim. “What a sod of a way to die, out here bleeding to death” Stubbs remembered thinking.

The Cheynes III crew desperately summoned the whale-spotter plane to lift Stubbs to safety.  Manoeuvring the small plane on the pitching sea was difficult and transferring Stubbs was extremely dangerous but the pilot John Bell and quick thinking Cheynes III’s crew managed to save Stubbs’ life, delivering him to help just in time. Soon after, Captain Stubbs was back at the helm, with a prosthetic leg to boot.

As one of the last three operational whale chasers in the Australian fleet, the Cheynes III continued whaling off the coast of Albany until the closure of the Cheynes Beach Whaling Station in 1978.  

The Original Sydney Ferryman – Australian National Maritime Museum

William ‘Billy’ Blue arrived in Sydney in 1801 as a convict. He had been a wharfie in London but convicted to seven years’ transportation for stealing sugar for his sideline chocolate business. On arrival in Sydney Billy quickly became a local identity in the small colony and within a couple of years of his release this American ex-slave started a passenger transport business around Sydney Harbour.

Billy’s waterman skills and jovial personality saw him become a favorite of Governor Macquarie who promoted Billy to Harbour Master in 1811 and housed Billy and his family at Circular Quay. Macquarie called Billy the ‘Old Commodore’ and Billy’s small fleet offered the first regular ferry services around the harbour and up the Parramatta River to Government House.

During his time on Sydney Harbour, Billy was arrested for using his vessels to smuggle rum, a wayward convict and made appearances in court. But his endearing character and entrepreneurial spirit saw Macquarie grant him land at what is still known as Blues Point on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour in 1817.

On Billy’s death in 1834 Sydney papers ran lengthy obituaries for the jaunty ferryman, recognizing that at his passing “we may never look upon his like again”.

Going Solo – Australian National Maritime Museum

In November 1988, sailor Kay Cottee set out aboard Blackmores First Lady to become the first woman to circumnavigate the world non-stop and unassisted. Kay had sold many of her possessions and with help from family and friends, she took the world’s oceans in a Cavalier 37 she had refitted herself. 

In addition to using her boatbuilding experience, Kay had new skills to master. For six months she would need to overcome mental and physical fatigue, have complete faith in her navigational skills, her ability to carry out any repairs and the medical knowledge that could save her life. All of these skills were likely to be needed in an instant and often in the worst conditions imaginable. Kay had to be totally self-reliant in every way.

During the voyage, Kay would experience some of the worst-case scenarios she had prepared for. The boat was knocked down by 70-foot waves and Kay went overboard, the boom cracked, and she lost her wind-powered generator. Any of these events could have ended the journey but her composure, resilience and a bit of improvisation saw Kay arrive back in Sydney in June 1988 to a crowd of 100,000 spectators desperate to see this record-breaker set foot back on land.

One Special Book, a Small Boy and a Boat – Tacoma Preservation Society

The latest comic book, or sitting staring at a screen, was never enough for Braden Stockham. When Braden discovered the book Wooden Fishing Boats he was immediately drawn into a new world of ocean adventures off the South Australian coast. Braden cherished this book and kept two copies – one for safekeeping under his pillow.

It was in the book that Braden discovered MFV Tacoma, a 1950s tuna clipper. When he visited the vessel in 2009 in Port Lincoln, Braden met Ross Haldane whose father had built the Tacoma with his brothers and launched the Southern Bluefish Tuna industry in Australia. Braden soon become part of the preservation society for the Tacoma and with Ross as his official mentor, and in collaboration with the Port Lincoln High school, attended the Tacoma one day a week as part of his school curriculum.

While still at school, Braden became a proficient tour guide on the Tacoma and in 2016 was part of the team of The Jangaard Exhibition recognizing the contribution these two American brothers had on the Australian tuna industry.

Braden now works in the South Australian industry that so caught his imagination as a young boy, and is himself a restorer of wooden boats.  

A Woman of Consummate Skill – Maritime Museum Tasmania

With the death of her husband Charles in 1852, Phillis Seal found herself the owner and manager of one of the largest cargo and whaling fleets in Tasmania. There were at least 12 ships were registered in her name, including the Grecian, Cheviot and the barque Aladdin. In addition to her own business, Phillis took a leadership role on behalf of other shipowners, petitioning the Hobart Marine Board for changes to the Merchant Seaman’s Act intended to make recruitment of skilled, specialized whaling crews easier.

Phillis was faced with dealing with the everyday problems and intricacies of a complex seafaring business, negotiating prices, crew and at one stage the theft of the Grecian and its involvement in the Polynesian slave trade. But she was also responsible for number of other retail enterprises, including a tobacco shop in Hobart. As the first female ship and fleet owner in Australia, Phillis earned the respect of her male competitors with one, Dr Crowther, acknowledging that she operated with ‘consummate skill and commensurate success’. This was high praise for a pioneering businesswoman who was also mother to nine children, landholder and philanthropist.

In 1866 Phillis sold her business interests in Tasmania and moved to Ballarat in Victoria to be with her children. There she lived a quieter life and died in 1877. In 1881 her remains were returned to Hobart where she was laid to rest in St Johns Park.

A Sailor’s Premonition and Resourcefulness Saves Shipmates – HMAS Castlemaine

Leading Seaman Leigh Bool joined HMAS Armidale having earlier narrowly escaping drafts in HMAS’s Kuttabul, Perth and Canberra. When Armidale was sunk in battle, two boats (one broken) were the survivors’ only hope. Leigh collected wooden planks and pallets from around the port of Darwin, and lashed them to the ship’s upper deck, making a raft along with the damaged boats and carley floats to support the survivors. Sailors also stuffed pieces of clothing into the vessel’s bullet holes, and repaired larger holes with patches. This collective effort and resourcefulness of the sailors allowed for many to be rescued who would otherwise have lost their lives.

Row, Row, Row Her Boat… - Maritime Museum Tasmania

Nipping out to run errands in the car is something many Australian families take for granted. A hundred years or so ago in Cygnet, southern Tasmania, Dinah Wilson did most of her family errands in a rowing boat! Dinah married shipbuilder John Wilson in 1872. Like many shipbuilders of that time John built vessels as close as possible to sources of good timber and, for a few years after their marriage, his yard was at Esperence (some 10km down the river from home). Two or three times each week, Dinah would row supplies to her husband and then row home again alone. According to her family, Dinah used the boat practically every day for the rest of her life. She was photographed in it by Hobart newspaper The Mercury on her 88th birthday in 1937.

Floody Legends – Maritime Museum of Townsville

It was the last week of January 2019 and heavy rains, the result of a monsoon and a tropical low, started falling over Townsville and residents were hopeful that these would break years of drought. But as the rain became heavier and more relentless, the week turned into a once-in-a-hundred-years disaster. The city and the surrounding regions were inundated with floodwaters, which were compounded when the spillway gates of Ross River Dam, having reached a staggering 247.6%, were fully opened.

Emergency Services were joined by over 2,000 Australian Defence Force personnel to rescue thousands of residents, and pets, from their flooded homes and move them to safety. But there were so many people in desperate need of assistance that innovative locals formed a ‘tinny navy’ to save others. These were ordinary boaties who left their own families and properties to pick up desperate locals as the floodwaters continued to rise and the water flows strengthened.

It wasn’t just the flooded streets that these selfless residents took on. The swirling murky waters carried debris, snakes and crocodiles, also victims of the rising waters. Volunteers in this ‘tinny navy’ door knocked on hundreds of doors making sure no one was forgotten or left behind. And in true Queensland spirit, they were happy to remain anonymous, wanting just to help and knowing that taking their boats out in these dangerous conditions was the best way to do that.  

This was the birth of the “Floody Legends” and the many stories of courage, compassion and resilience that emerged during Townsville’s Monster Monsoon of 2019.

My Boat, My Survival – Alexandrina Council

My wife and I were amongst 40 boat people who arrived Australia on a flimsy fishing boat from Vietnam on 21 November, 1977. That overcrowded boat meant escape, ensured our survival and was also a near death-trap.

Many of us had never even been on a boat before. The vessel took us south west, constantly being turned away by coast guards from countries that would not accept us. The engine failed, the boat leaked and we were running out of water and supplies.

So we swam for our lives. We endured dreadful conditions at a Malaysian refugee camp and there seemed little prospect of settlement. So we decided to go again.

A more robust boat was cobbled together from vessels that had been abandoned on shore. Another long, perilous voyage was ahead, riding out the challenges of a monsoon, an active volcano and stormy open seas.  Finally chugging into Darwin Harbour a month later, a tinny became a powerful symbol of welcome. Two fishermen with floppy caps and smeared zinc cream lifted beer cans, calling out “G’Day Mate, welcome to Australia!”

Through boats, we found sanctuary.

Keeping Culture Alive – Alexandrina Council

In 2011 a proud Ngarrinjeri Elder, Uncle Major ‘Moogy’ Sumner made the first traditional Ngarrindjeri/Boandik tree canoe in over 100 years. More than just reviving a traditional skill, Uncle Moogy used the creation of the canoe as a means to share and preserve Ngarrindjeri culture and pass these skills down to future generations.

Ngarrinjeri country is the Lower Murray, Coorong and Lakes area of South Australia and they always had a strong connection to these rivers and waterways. Uncle Moogy used his traditional knowledge of caring for river red gums whose bark is used for canoe-making. Uncle Moogy knew the right tree when he saw it, and ensured he asked the spirit of the tree that he had permission to remove the bark. He also asked permission from ancestors, asking them to be there with him while he worked.

Along the way Uncle Moogy recorded the process of making the canoe and then, watched by three generations of Ngarrindjeri, he launched the craft, ensuring their cultural traditions are being preserved, and fulfilling his responsibility as an Elder in passing on knowledge.

Uncle Moogy continues to share his cultural knowledge with younger Ngarrindjeri and advocates widely for the health and wellbeing of the Darling and Murray Rivers. In 2010, at a time of great drought and suffering, he united a group of Aboriginal River Nations to come together to bring the life and spirit back to the great waterways.

By Jimminy, She’s a Ripper – Millicent National Trust Museum

Powerboat racing was all the craze in Mount Gambier, South Australia during the 1950s. People turned out in their hundreds to watch, and bet on, the events. When the little yellow speedster Jiminy Cricket made her appearance, the crowd went wild. A sleek little boat skippered by local business owner Mr N. F. Ferguson, it looked totally outclassed by the other big, powerful, and factory-built monsters. However, her ability to weave in and out between the larger vessels, and even skim over the wakes that were speed bumps to everyone else, meant she won her fair share of races. She raced locally and as far afield as Queensland, following the circuit and winning scores of fans. The locals still remember that flash of yellow across the finish line, and the power of the local DIY sailor.

From Illegal Casino to Legendary Lakes Entrance Fishing Vessel - Lakes Entrance Historical Society

Commercial fishing entered a new phase when Kevin and Frank Mitchelson transported a half-planked casino hull to Lakes Entrance in 1946. Over the next few years, the boat took and shape and would become the most recognised Victorian fishing vessel of its time. It became contracted to supply anchovies for Peck’s famous fish paste, and the brothers named their vessel Anchovette.

On Anchovette the Mitchelson brothers pioneered many industry-changing fishing techniques. These included purse seining, board trawling, mesh netting of tuna, and gill-nets to catch shark. They were involved in important industry research and went on to pioneer the use of aircrafts to spot shoals of fish. On one memorable day the Anchovette recorded a catch of over 80 tonnes of salmon, drawing a crowd of locals to marvel from the wharf. 

Over the years the innovative Mitchelson brothers continued to adapt Anchovette to improve the effectiveness of purse-seining and eventually added to their fishing fleet. Generations of Mitchelson fishermen and vessels followed.

The Anchovette remains a legend in the region both for its role in developing the fishing industry, and for its distinctive design.