Sydney Heritage Fleet will tomorrow (Wednesday 30 March) begin a series of dramatic harbour manoeuvres to bring two of the nation’s biggest maritime restorations much closer to completion.
The first will see the 1927 coastal steamer John Oxley, sitting atop a 60-metre pontoon, as it’s towed gingerly down the Harbour from Rozelle Bay to the Garden Island Naval base.
The complex operation has been brought forward at short notice because of forecast bad weather later this week. SHF volunteers are racing to meet the new deadline for the tow, which will begin at 7 am tomorrow.
Re-floating the 51m ship, with its new hull, will enable SHF to get its historic 1912 Sydney Harbour ferry Kanangra out of the water for a much-needed hull replacement.
The Swap, as it’s known, will put what’s been a local landmark at the Fleet’s Rozelle Bay workshop back in the water, for the first time in 25 years. John Oxley was built in Scotland for the Queensland Harbours and Marine Board, serving as a pilot vessel until 1968.
The Heritage Fleet is home to a variety of restored and maintained ships, including the 1874 barque James Craig, the 1902 steam launch Lady Hopetoun and the 1902 steam tug Waratah. Hundreds of volunteers have worked on the vessels over the years. But they’ve never felt anything like the current wave of pressure.
What follows are the details of Stage 1 of the Swap,
