The News, Culture and Practice of Sailing woodenboats
in Australia, New Zealand & The South Pacific.

HISTORY Mark Chew HISTORY Mark Chew

Council keeps Cook

"It gives us an opportunity to move forward as a nation and as a community … By not creating those opportunities for those conversations, we stay in the status quo."

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HISTORY Mark Chew HISTORY Mark Chew

The Stupidity of it All.

“All too often, we expect history to be definitive, to pass judgement and announce a verdict. But understanding Cook is about much more than apportioning praise or blame.”

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HISTORY Mark Chew HISTORY Mark Chew

Story Telling at its best

A vessel is registered as historic after a rigorous process, including their relevance to Australia’s social history, and their particular significance to our maritime heritage.

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HISTORY Mark Chew HISTORY Mark Chew

Tony Mackay tells The Halvorsen Story

Lars Halvorsen’s five sons and family created what became the largest and most famous Australian boatbuilders of their era, later taking their skills to Hong Kong and China, with exports all over the world. The story is one of hardship and passion, stoicism in the face of great adversity.

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HISTORY Mark Chew HISTORY Mark Chew

It’s a SCOOP

The Couta Boat Association has posted a wonderful record of the early years of the Class on its website. There are about 50 Editions of “SCOOP” on line, starting 42 years ago in 1981 and ending in 2011.

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HISTORY Mark Chew HISTORY Mark Chew

Love Letters opened 260 years Too late

Prof Morieux said: "When we are separated from loved ones by events beyond our control, like the pandemic or wars, we have to work out how to stay in touch, how to reassure, care for people and keep the passion alive. "These letters are about universal human experiences, they're not unique to France or the 18th Century."

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HISTORY Mark Chew HISTORY Mark Chew

Inside an expedition to locate the Beagle’s lost anchors

Entering a maze of muddy islands, the mouth of the Victoria is a vast delta within the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf that does not easily explain itself to mariners. We are in the 65-foot Island Explorer, decked out for group fishing tours but now temporarily repurposed in an attempt to locate two anchors that were cut free from the Beagle at a point on the river named Holdfast Reach 180 years earlier.

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HISTORY Mark Chew HISTORY Mark Chew

Kerosine Jack-an update

Following on from last week’s Article The Lost Loot of Lima we had a wonderful update from Richard Bell, on the ground in Queenscliff. These Documents are part of a Queenscliff Historical Museum project about the Fishermen and Families on Fisherman’s Flat, Queenscliff.

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HISTORY Mark Chew HISTORY Mark Chew

The Lateen Sail Part 2

In thinking about trade routes in the parallel universe of Indian Ocean sail cargo it is important to understand that in spite of the desert, the heat, humidity and the vast areas, there was an active trade of considerable size and variety centuries before the discovery of oil or the building of the Suez Canal.

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HISTORY Mark Chew HISTORY Mark Chew

The Lateen Sail

It is deceptively easy to get bogged down in the dominant paradigm of Traditional Sail that is centered on the archaeology and history of square rigged ships and fore and aft rigged work boats. This is, admittedly, a broad generalisation, but it is also one that I would defend.

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HISTORY Mark Chew HISTORY Mark Chew

The ship that founded Melbourne

After a few small adventures, the Enterprize eventually found the Yarra and, warping the ship upstream for a way, eventually moored at the same spot that Batman’s men had found. They chose this spot for the same reason as Batman’s party, for the fresh water that was available above some small falls (which have since disappeared).

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HISTORY Mark Chew HISTORY Mark Chew

The Definitive Online Repository

The ARHV benefits all historic vessels by creating public awareness of the important role vessels have played in Australian history. This builds an environment for historic craft and their stories to be recognised and valued by the public, and through this, support from various sources will be encouraged and realised.

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HISTORY Mark Chew HISTORY Mark Chew

The Great Gatsby Yacht

“To young Gatz, resting on his oars and looking up at the railed deck, that yacht represented all the beauty and glamour in the world.” - The Great Gatsby.

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