Tasmania’s maritime history and iconic timber sector are on show for thousands of visitors at the 2015 Australian Wooden Boat Festival.
Up to 200,000 festival-goers are expected to attend the four day festival on the Hobart waterfront, looking at some of the most beautiful wooden boats in the entire world.
Many of these boats have been made from Tasmanian timbers, including the Tasmanian Huon pine ketch Stormalong, which took centre stage this morning at Shipwrights Village.
As part of this year’s theme ‘As Once We Were’, organisers have recreated what the Hobart docks might have looked like 200 years ago, when almost all passengers and cargo moved by boat.
To recreate that sense of history, a team of bullocks was brought in to load the Stormalong with produce for a special trip to the Port Arthur Heritage Site.
That same team of bullocks is also part of “The Big Log Project”, which saw two peppermint gums selected, felled and transported from the Coal River Valley to the Hobart waterfront, where they are being cut into ship-building materials utilising the same techniques used two centuries ago.
The Big Log Project showcases both Tasmania’s maritime heritage and our iconic timber sector.
Thousands of visitors will not only see beautiful Tasmanian-made boats over the four days of the festival, but also a range of furniture and other woodwork made from our special species timber.
The Liberal Government is rebuilding our forest industry and through the Special Species Management Plan, we will support Tasmania’s world renowned boat building sector while striking the right balance between special timbers extraction and managing conservation values.
We have a long-term plan to create a vibrant and sustainable forest industry operating to the world’s highest environmental standard and it’s pleasing to see this iconic industry on show for the world to see at the Australian Wooden Boat Festival.
Paul Harriss, Minister for Resources
