OWNER of decrepit Tasmanian tallship Defender, Les Dick, has gone to North Queensland vowing to restore the historic schooner a second time.
During the past five years, the Defender has decayed and rusted in Townsville’s Ross River after an engine-room fire.
In the mid-1980s, Tasmanian-based Mr Dick spent about $400,000, with more than half being public funds, to restore the Defender in time for Australia’s Bicentenary re-enactment of the First Fleet landing, and the Bicenenary Tallships Race.
In a Tasmanian Times exclusive in November I revealed the plight of the 115-foot ship, an issue that drew the attention of the state’s media ( The publicly-funded Tallship rusting and rotting in Qld )
My nurturing of contacts with Townsville’s Bulletin newspaper during the past two months has tracked down Mr Dick . . . to the Ross River waterfront.
Standing on the deck of a rusty and rotting Defender yesterday, Mr Dick said: “She’s a beautiful old thing, I’m sure that she’ll be able to be restored, there’s no questions about that.
“Someone has got to preserve these types of vessels. We’re good in Australia at letting these things fall to pieces.
“Something like this, when it’s gone, well that’s the end of it. This is the last one.”
Mr Dick told the Townsville Bulletin he was not sure where the future home of the vessel would be after the repair work was finished.
“After it’s all done I’ll make my mind up as to where it’ll go,” he said.
“It’ll either go back to the Whitsundays or home to Tasmania. The issue now is to make sure everything’s all right.
“There are no major structural faults with this ship at all. All the machinery has been redone. It’s only about one month’s work.”
Mr Dick said the Defender would be taken to Townsville’s Rosshaven Marine this week for a full survey, including an underwater inspection.
Read the Townville Bulletin’s report at http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2013/01/07/373223_news.html
Read the original Tasmanian Times story at http://oldtt.pixelkey.biz/index.php?/weblog/article/the-publicly-funded-tallship-rusting-and-rotting-in-qld/
