They don’t build boats like Protex any more. She is that rarity, a humble working launch that has survived where so many other, much grander vessels have gone under, victims of the awful burdens of age, neglect and unrelenting hard labour. 
  There’s nothing fancy about Protex; there’s no gleaming brightwork and no burnished brass. She is a working boat, plain and simple, and to my mind, that makes her survival into the 21st century all the more significant. For 100 years she has been true to herself, an honest, unpretentious little workhorse, chug, chug, chugging about Sydney Harbour and the Hawkesbury River, ferrying passengers and hauling men and supplies from ship to shore and back again, in an unrelenting round of toil. 
  Protex owes her survival to a number of factors, not the least being her exceptionally sturdy construction. Her carvel hull is planked in fulllength ¾-inch New Zealand Kauri. Her frames, keel, stem and stern-posts are fashioned from a variety of hardwoods, a combination that’s given her hull tremendous strength and durability. Protex is just 36ft (11.05m) from her no-nonsense plumb stem to the gracious fantail stern. She is 10ft 4in (3.15m) on the beam and displaces six tonnes. She was originally named Waikare, a melodic Maori name that means ‘rippling water’. 
  Although her construction and her original name may perhaps hint at New Zealand origins, no one seems to know who designed her or who built her, still less where she was constructed. Although she is now one of the bestloved vessels in the Sydney Heritage Fleet, virtually nothing is known about the first 20-odd years of her life. Her documentation star ts in 1933 with a certificate issued by the Department of Navigation, Sydney, allowing Waikare to carry 38 passengers. 
  In 1934 she was purchased by Nicholson Bros and used to transport goods and personnel between ships and waterfront establishments right around the thriving industrial waterfront that was then an integral part of the working Port of Sydney. 
  She was a regular on the Colgate- Palmolive run, ferrying workers to and from the malodorous soap works in Mort Bay, Balmain. The names of all the Nicholson Bros launches, lighters, tugs and ferries began with Pro and so it seemed appropriate that she should be called Protex after one of Palmolive’s most popular soaps. 
  On that run she would have been under the command of a permanent skipper and deckhand who were responsible for her maintenance. In those days, crews took a particular pride in the appearance of their vessels and Protex, with her distinctive white beech deck and wraparound cabin, was always kept in immaculate condition. 
  But life on the working harbour could sometimes be perilous. In 1952 Protex collided with another Nicholson Bros ferry, Provide, off Peacock Point, Balmain. Although no one was seriously hurt, she was stove in on the port side and went to the bottom. Salvaged and repaired, she was soon back at work. Protex continued her service on the Harbour with Nicholson Bros until 1968 when the company was taken over by Stannard Bros. 
  In 1970 Protex was leased to Terry Hodgson who took her north to the Central Coast where she operated as a ferry between Woy Woy and Toukley and later between Brooklyn and Dangar Island on the Hawkesbury River. 
  In 1981 Chris Stannard presented her to the Sydney Heritage Fleet and financed her restoration. The work was carried out by Balmain shipwright Gary Ferres, apprentice Clayton Jackson and a team of half a dozen dedicated volunteers. It took the best part of two years and involved a complete re-caulking and re-sheathing in copper by John Minehan of President Shipwrights, Drummoyne. After two years on the hard the old boat had pretty much dried out. A two-week immersion in salt water was all that was needed to make her tight again. 
  For further details visit www.shf.org.au/Protex.html