Economy
Once-proud Rowitta is now an abandoned ship …
In her prime at Flagstaff Hill in 1999 – image “Fred” via Flickr
Museums Victoria, Rowitta on the Tamar, circa 1922
See caption – Launceston, shortly after launch, 1909, Image from Launceston Library
A tale of two ferries: as the century-old Tasmanian wooden steamer, the Cartela, is restored at Franklin, its even older sister-ship, the Rowitta, is being chainsawed apart by a Victorian maritime museum that can no longer afford to keep her. How did it come to this?