PS Decoy at Mends Street Jetty | |
History | |
---|---|
Australia | |
Name | PS Decoy |
Owner | WA Steamship Company |
Operator | WA Steamship Company |
Builder | Australian Ship Building Industries [1] |
Launched | 1986 |
Identification | Australian Ship No. 852383 |
Status | in service |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | paddle steamer |
Propulsion | 1905 Ransome Sims and Jefferies twin cylinder steam engine |
Capacity | 230 passengers [1] |
PS Decoy is a privately owned paddle steamer. Built in 1986 in Fremantle, Decoy is a replica of the original paddle steamer that operated on the Swan River in the 1870s. She was used in the filming of the television mini-series Cloudstreet , which was based on Tim Winton's novel. [1]
Decoy was built by Australian Ship Building Industries in Fremantle in 1986, a replica of the original paddle steamer that operated on the Swan River in the 1870s. Chas Cox purchased Decoy in the 1990s and upgraded the vessel. [1] He put it up for sale for $1.85 million in 2011 and it was relaunched by Western Australian owners in 2015. [2] The vessel was significantly refurbished in 2024 and is now available for private charters, corporate functions, memorial services, weddings and ticketed events. www.psdecoy.com.au
Decoy is powered by a 1905 Ransome Sims and Jefferies twin cylinder steam engine, which was salvaged and restored from Bunnings engineering workshops in Manjimup. [3] The engine was totally rebuilt in 1986 with a new oil fired burner and maxitherm boiler fitted. [1]
Holding a place dear in the hearts of all Western Australians and visitors alike, the Fremantle registered paddle steamer is berthed at the Mends Street Jetty in South Perth. Visitors to the Perth Zoo are likely to see the vessel as they make their way from the jetty. Swan River cruises take the form of private charter, being corporate and private functions (Christmas parties, staff parties, birthday parties, memorial services), weddings and publicly ticketed events. Sunday afternoon jazz - and other styles of music - cruises have long been a part of Perth culture which continues to this day.
Operation of the vessel is conducted without the support of public funds and charitable donations, hence relies on revenue from private hire to keep the vessel in operation.
The paddle steamer is a central feature of the annual "Fremantle Port's Open Day"
Echuca is a city on the banks of the Murray River and Campaspe River in Victoria, Australia. The border town of Moama is adjacent on the northern side of the Murray River in New South Wales. Echuca is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Shire of Campaspe. As of the 2021 census, Echuca had a population of 15,056, and the population of the combined Echuca and Moama townships was 22,568.
A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine driving paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, whereby the first uses were wheelers driven by animals or humans.
PS Waverley is the last seagoing passenger-carrying paddle steamer in the world. Built in 1946, she sailed from Craigendoran on the Firth of Clyde to Arrochar on Loch Long until 1973. Bought by the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society (PSPS), she has been restored to her 1947 appearance and now operates passenger excursions around the British coast.
PS Curlip was a paddle steamer built in a Tabbara sawmill in 1889 by Samuel Richardson and his sons. It was operated along the Snowy River in Australia's Gippsland region between 1890 and 1919, before being washed out to sea, and broken on Marlo beach, by a flash flood.
The PS Ruby, also known as the Paddle Steamer Ruby is the flagship of the historic port of Wentworth, New South Wales at the junction of the Murray and Darling Rivers. She is a composite hull paddle steamer that features a 1926 Robey & Co 20 nominal horsepower portable steam engine. Between 1996 and 2007 she was restored to her early 20th-century appearance.
PS Ryde is a paddle steamer that was commissioned and run by Southern Railway as a passenger ferry between mainland England and the Isle of Wight from 1937 to 1969, with an interlude during the Second World War where she served as a minesweeper and then an anti-aircraft ship, seeing action at D-Day. After many years abandoned on moorings at Island Harbour Marina on the River Medina, she was purchased by the PS Ryde Trust in late 2018, with the intention of raising money for her restoration. That project was abandoned in January 2019.
Challenger Harbour is a marina in Fremantle, Western Australia adjacent to the Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour. The harbour breakwater covers the historical site of the Fremantle Long Jetty.
Fremantle Harbour is Western Australia's largest and busiest general cargo port and an important historical site. The inner harbour handles a large volume of sea containers, vehicle imports and livestock exports, cruise shipping and naval visits, and operates 24 hours a day. It is located adjacent to the city of Fremantle, in the Perth metropolitan region.
MV Perth is a wooden boat that has operated on the Swan River in Perth, Western Australia. Built in Fremantle in 1914, it is one of the oldest wooden boats still afloat in Western Australia.
The River Dart Steamboat Co Ltd (RDSC) and its predecessors, the Dartmouth Steam Packet Company and the Dartmouth and Torbay Steam Packet Company, were the major ferry and excursion boat operators on the River Dart in South Devon for 120 years, until the company's demise in 1976. The company was famous for its distinctive paddle steamers, which were a familiar sight on the river until the late 1960s.
The Paddle Steamer Waimarie is a historic riverboat based on the Whanganui River in New Zealand. She is the only coal–fired paddle steamer still operating in New Zealand. Waimarie was built in 1899 by Yarrow & Co. in London and transported to New Zealand in kitset form to be assembled at Whanganui. She operated on the Whanganui River for 49 years before being laid up. In 1952 she sank at her moorings and lay in the mud for the next 40 years.
PS Emmylou is a paddle steamer operated by Murray River Paddlesteamers in Echuca, used for both day and overnight accommodation cruises.
The Black Swan was the first bucket dredge used by the Swan River Colony to make its rivers more suitable for shipping. The dredge was operational from 1872 to 1911, when it was scuttled. Initially known as the Government Dredge, it was renamed after being repaired and modified between 1887 and 1888. The dredging carried out by the Black Swan and other vessels had a significant impact on the river fauna and flora, including the black swans for which it was named.
Ullswater 'Steamers' is a boat company which provides leisure trips on Ullswater in the north-eastern part of the English Lake District. It is based in Glenridding, Cumbria. Founded in 1855, it currently operates five diesel powered vessels between four locations on the lake. The oldest boat in its fleet was launched in 1877.
PS Enterprise is an 1878 Australian paddle steamer, currently owned by the National Museum of Australia in Canberra. It is still operational, and one of the oldest working paddle steamers in the world. It is listed on the Australian Register of Historic Vehicles.
The Pioneer Settlement, in Swan Hill, Victoria, is Australia's first open-air museum, portraying life on the Murray in the era 1830-1930. It opened in 1966 as the Swan Hill Folk Museum, before being renamed, following a visit by the Queen in 1970. It contains approximately 50 replica buildings, including Masonic hall, coach-house, post office, photographic studio, original 1895 kaiserpanorama, and newspaper office. The collection also contains numerous tractors – including the first tractor ever brought to Australia – and historic vehicles, and two 19th-century riverboats, including the 1876 paddlesteamer PS Gem. This vessel was towed to the site in 1963, and now functions as the main entrance and contains a restaurant.
The PS Gem is a retired side-wheel paddle steamer that was first launched in 1876 on the Murray River at Moama, New South Wales. She operated as a cargo and passenger steamer, regularly cruising between Morgan and Mildura. The Gem operated as a tourist passenger vessel during the 1930s and 1940s, and was retired in the early 1950s. In 1962 the Gem was sold to the then Swan Hill Folk Museum, where it would become a static display and historic monument.
The PV Pyap is a tourist paddle vessel operating within Swan Hill's Pioneer Settlement. Originally launched as a barge in July 1896 at Mannum, the Pyap was completed as a paddle steamer in late 1897 and operated on the Murray River. In 1970, the Pyap was purchased by Toby Henson and refitted with a diesel engine, with the intention of relocation to the Pioneer Settlement.
MV Valdura is a preserved small ferry used on the Swan river and in Fremantle Harbour between 1912 and 1967. It is the only surviving "Val-boat" class ferry, which were one of the main types of ferry used on the Swan river between 1904 and 1949 when ferry services were the primary mode of transport on the river.