"It's the Huon Valley, we have a lot of apples here," Cody says, explaining the name. "It will use plywood and Huon Pine transom, and lots of WEST SYSTEM!"
Andrew Denman, who has been operating Denman Marine since 2005 with a small team of dedicated craftspeople, specialises in the construction and repair of wooden boats using both traditional and modern construction methods and materials.
Andrew believes a number of factors contribute to Tasmania being the epicentre of wooden boat building in Australia. "First, is the beautiful endemic timbers we have available. These slow-grown timbers are renowned for being the best boat building timbers in the world.
"The second factor would be our favourable climate in which to build and maintain wooden boats.
"The third and most important factor is public recognition of the Tasmanian wooden boat building sector's intangible cultural heritage, including the desire and support to preserve and transmit this heritage to future generations.
"I have trained several apprentices during my time, and it is wonderful to see the next generation of wooden boat builders stepping up to play their part in this ongoing story."
Graeme Broxam, Secretary of the Wooden Boat Guild of Tasmania is an authority on the history of wooden boat building in Tasmania. "Tasmanians have a special affinity for the sea," he states, which is at
the heart of the state's boat building heritage and prowess to this day.
"Until the 1930s, all transport to and from Tasmania was by water, and before the development of quality roads and rail, much commerce within the state was also taken through our river and coastal systems. By the 1820s, Tasmanian- owned merchant ships could be seen in ports as far away as India, South Africa and Great Britain.
"In the 1820s, a home-grown fleet of whalers brought great prosperity, peaking in the late 1830s but remaining of some economic value right up to 1900. We were early adopters of new technology, with Hobart boasting its first two river steamers in 1832, just a year behind Sydney, and by the 1850s few coastal settlements were not served by steamers, in addition to a large fleet of sailing coaters.
"As well as commerce, Tasmanians soon began to enjoy the water for recreational pursuits, with yachting both on the Derwent and the Tamar in the 1830s. To service all of these needs, Tasmanians were obliged to establish boat and shipbuilding industries, and soon found that they were blessed with some of the world's best shipbuilding timbers. "Hardwoods such as the renowned Blue Gum were used for seagoing ships, while lighter pines such as Huon, King William and Celery Top Pines were more suited for boat building. Exports of timber, especially hardwood, could be exchanged for desired overseas shipbuilding timbers, like Kauri Pine from New Zealand and Oregon pine for North America: in ships frequently owned locally, and often built locally as well."
In the early 1900s, timber shipbuilding was a significant Tasmanian industry, but petered out with the availability of iron and later steel steamships, beyond the technical capacity of local shipbuilders, as Graham recounts.
"Smaller coastal traders continued to be built into the 1950s. Since then, boat building, mostly fishing boats and pleasure craft, has continued on a moderate scale.
Image credit: Francois Fourie
"The industry today is much hampered by the loss of access to speciality timbers, however, there are
104 | ISSUE 109 | SEP 2024 | THE REPORT
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