Skip to main content

Paddle Steamer Enterprise at home on Canberra's Lake Burley Griffin



The Paddle Steamer Enterprise is one of the oldest operating paddle steamers in the world. Built in 1876 it is now 140 years old.

The Keir family launched the PS Enterprise at Echuca in Victoria, Australia, as a working boat in 1878. In 1893 Tommy Freeman bought the steamer to carry cargo and passengers. August Creager bought it in 1919 to use as a fishing boat and as his family home. In 1945 he sold it to the Collins family of Mildura, who owned a number of riverboats and barges. Robert Miller of Adelaide in South Australia bought the PS Enterprise in 1946 and converted it into a weekend houseboat. The Phillips family bought it in 1963 until Graeme Neihus bought it in 1973.

The National Museum of Australia in the country’s capital city, Canberra, purchased the PS Enterprise in 1984 and transported it back to its original site in Echuca for restoration. It needed its engine, crankshaft, chain drive, paddle shaft, paddlewheel, and other mechanical parts reconditioned. In addition the boiler was replaced, the hull restored and the sleeping quarters above the main deck were rebuilt.

The PS Enterprise is 17.3 metres (56.8 feet) long and 8 metres (26 feet) wide with a depth of 1.6 metres (5.2 feet). Its gross tonnage is 55.9 tonnes, with a net tonnage of 42.7 tonnes. Its maximum speed is 5 knots – 9 kilometres per hour (5.6 miles per hour). It has a single expansion, twin cylinder, double-acting, semi-portable, common non-condensing 0.2 metre (8 inch) bore, 0.3 metre (12 inch) stroke engine built in 1877 by Beverley Iron & Waggon Company of Hull in Humberside, England.

The original boiler was a 9 kilowatt locomotive type, all-steel, riveted construction built by Beverley Iron & Waggon Company in 1877. The replacement boiler is a locomotive type, all-steel, welded construction built in 1988 by Perry Engineering of Adelaide in South Australia.

The PS Enterprise was transported to Canberra in 1988 and is now a working exhibit as an operating vessel on Lake Burley Griffin. A volunteer team of 30 people assisted with its renovation and maintenance – and a crew of six operate it. It operates on the lake every weekend from September to May each year.

It was listed on the Australian Register of Historic Vessels in 2012.









MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. That
1 comment
Read more

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass
Post a Comment
Read more

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing
1 comment
Read more