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Four views of O-DEAR before and after restoration.
O-Dear
Four views of O-DEAR before and after restoration.
Four views of O-DEAR before and after restoration.
Private Collection

O-Dear

Vessel numberHV000578
Previous owner
Date1961
DimensionsVessel Dimensions: 5.08 m x 4.88 m x 1.73 m x 0.41 m (16.67 ft x 16.01 ft x 5.68 ft x 1.35 ft)
DescriptionO-DEAR was designed and built in 1961 by local Noosaville builder Jack Abbodine. Based on the traditional flat bottom fishing boats, it has a simple to build flat bottom and planked sides, is 5 metres long and 1.73 metres wide, and ideal for fishing. They used the locally made Olds petrol engines from their factory in nearby Maryborough, and O-DEAR retains its original engine, housed in an engine box almost at midships.

The craft was built for the O Boat company, but the type were apparently also known as T boats, which came from the rival T- Boat hire company. However the O Boat hire company was the first of the hire boat companies to be started, opening for business in 1948, run by local identity Len Ely. In 1939 he had built a jetty, but had to wait until 1948 to add a shop and commence a hire business. The O was chosen as a symbol taken from the target symbol of a ring and dot, it was something easy to recognise. T Boats started later on initially called tthe Terrace Boat Company. In 2013 both companies are still in operation with modern designs and a wide range of vessels for hire.

O-DEAR was sold to a private buyer in 2004, changed hands in 2005 and again to the current owners in 2010. They have overhauled and rebuilt the craft and use it for their own fishing and boating in the Noosa region.

SignificanceO-DEAR is a wooden hire boat from the Noosa River in Queensland and built in 1961. It is one of the very few remaining examples of this local fishing boat that was common from the 1940s onwards, and at one time two companies had sizable fleets of these craft available for hire on the river. For many people hiring a craft represented their only opportunity to go boating, often when on holidays with the family.
MAY QUEEN, June 2012
Alexander Lawson
1867
KRAIT restored for the 75th Anniversary event on 26th September 2018 at the ANMM wharves.
c 1934
LIBA ONE in 2012  and showing  the paddlewheel arrangement on the centreline
Ian Showell
1964
The lifeboat on display in the Melbourne  Shrine of Remembrance in 2015
Harland & Wolff
c1905
Derwent Hunter in the Whitsundays
Walter Wilson
1946
WALLAGARAUGH in 1960.
J J Savage
1913
The deck layout of ST CHRIS features two sets of foot straps and a breakwater on the foredeck.
Herb Robson
1953
The three sets of footstraps on SS BILL FISHER allowed one or  two people to use the craft.
Herb Robson
1958