The William IV

I saw this motoring past my window the other day.  Hello I thought, they must have finished the renovations and are taking it for a test run.  In fact they have moored it further up the harbour and the renovations are indeed complete.

It is a replica of a 54-ton wooden paddle steamer built by Marshall & Lowe, Erringhi, New South Wales, Australia.  "She" was the first ocean going steamship built in Australia when launched in 1831. She was rebuilt and lengthened in 1853. She plied the East Coast of New South Wales until 1863, when she sailed to China and was sold and operated on the Shanghai - Ningbo route. Records end in 1868 when she sailed to Japan.  (Is it appropriate to call a ship "she" when it is named William IV?


This, the replica was built at from 1985 to 1987 as part of the  Australian Bicentenary and was launched by Hazel Hawke  on 26 September 1987.  A work colleague told me she went and visited it when it was being built when she was a school girl!