Harbour veteran nears 100 by Graeme Andrews - Kanangra passes liner Dominion Monarch.

On the morning of August 14, 1912 at Woolwich, Sydney, 11-year-old Miss Dorothea Walker carried out the time-honoured launching ceremony that sends a new ship afloat. As the new hull was taken in charge by the tugs and work boats standing by, the crowd at Morts Dock cheered because something new was happening to the fleet of ferries that served almost every bay and inlet of the port.
The new Kanangra (and her sistership Kirawa ) was that ‘something new’ for the massive commercial conglomeration that was then Sydney Ferries Ltd.
These were the first inner harbour ferries with steel hulls. The concept was not then universally accepted. Just how tough and durable those hulls really were can be understood by the fact that Kirawa was retired only because the company did not have enough money in the early 1950s to re-boiler her. Sister Kanangra is still afloat.
To celebrate her centenary the volunteers of the Sydney Heritage Fleet – operators and restorers of the 1874 barque James Craig, and the 1902-built Waratah and Lady Hopetoun, in addition to many smaller craft – intend to compile and publish a book which will tell the story of the big ferry and of the one hundred or so broadly similar ferries that were built between 1879 and 1922. Some of this style lasted until just before the Australian Bi-centennial in 1988.
Kanangra and the wooden Kameruka in Circular Quay c. 1950. Fred Saxon.Since the late 1840s scheduled ferry services gradually extended as far as Manly and Middle Harbour, in one direction and as far as Lane Cove, Parramatta and Rozelle in other directions. Today’s ferry routes are fewer than during the 1920s when the ferry network reached its apogee.
Today’s ferry now owes more to bus design than to the traditional world-famous Sydney ferry … but three representatives of the vintage Sydney ferry exist.
One is the inner harbour wooden ferry Lady Denman of 1912, ensconced in a large glass ‘case’ at Huskisson, NSW. The ‘Lady’ is well restored to her 1950s appearance and is open for public visits as part of the Lady Denman Heritage site at Huskisson.
Much larger and at time of writing with a doubtful future, subject to the efforts of a group of enthusiasts who have formed the Baragoola Preservation Society, is the 1922 Manly ferry Baragoola. I must, at this point, note that I have accepted the position of Patron of this organization and I hope to tell of their successes somewhat later in Afloat.
Rather larger than Lady Denman and of broadly similar design, is the Kanangra.
In 1987 the then diesel-powered Kanangra was retired by the State Government with the stated intention that she would be completely re-built and restored for use as a bi-centennial project. A little later there came a change of heart and the ferry was offered to the Sydney Heritage Fleet as a museum piece, along with a small sum for basic maintenance.
Since that date the volunteers have worked on the interior and superstructure of the big ferry, always knowing that sooner, rather than later, it would be imperative that she be slipped for major hull repairs.
Steamship Kanangra clears Gladesville Bridge during a harbour cruise. / Motor ship Kanangra brings a load of Cockatoo Dock workers into the Quay c. 1965. / Kanangra and Lady Northcott share a berth at Balmain base in 1974.
The combination of Sydney’s greatly diminished commercial shipyards and ways in Port Jackson and lack of funds have postponed the project but it is hoped to have the 1927 steam pilot ship John Oxley, presently having her hull re-plated while on the museum’s Heritage Dock punt, back in the water within one to two years, at which time Kanangra will come out of the water. In the meantime the ferry’s enthusiasts patch and probe and check to ensure that her hull will stand another year or two afloat.
Working on her intended run Kanangra is shown at Musgrave St. Wharf, c.1950s. Fred Saxon.While the physical work continues steadily, other members work to locate and retrieve as much of the ferry’s background as possible. To make the coming book as interesting as possible they hope that Afloat readers and others may be able to add many little extras.
There is a need to contact former crewmen, particularly from the pre-WWII and pre-1980 period. The volunteers would be just as enthusiastic to talk to relatives of past crew men of Kanangra, and of other company ferries of the time. They would particularly like to find a photograph or two of the launching day – or of any ferry launching day as it is possible that any such image may not be correctly identified.
Kanangra and James Craig on display in the Darling Harbour ‘duckpond’ in 1988. The volunteers would like to see any photographs of Kanangra, the older the better, or of other Sydney ferries of the time. Anyone with such material might contact me through Afloat or at graewin@AOL.com
I will return any material, if required, having professionally copied it by computer. All such material will be acknowledged by the Sydney Heritage Fleet within the proposed book.
Shown here are some fine images of Kanangra both when a new steamer and right through to the present day. Can YOU add to them? Can you add your ideas and information to our story?