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Gramaru

Vessel numberHV000802

Date1910

DimensionsVessel Dimensions: 6.4 m × 6.4 m × 1.83 m × 0.61 m (21 ft × 21 ft × 6 ft × 2 ft)

DescriptionThere is strong evidence to show that GRAMARU was built by W. Purdon in the Tasmanian town of Strahan in 1910 and originally given the name EUGENIE. It was built as a small wooden motor fishing launch and sits at an overall length of 6.1 metres long and 1.8 metres wide, battem seamed and carvel planked, plumb at stem and bow. EUGENIE first saw ownership under John Henry Albuery, recognised in 1899 as the biggest employer in the local Strahan fishing industry - 12 or 13 men to his name. It most likely operated out of Albuery's home near Macquarie Harbour Heads catching a range of fish including cod, ling, salmon-trout, flounder and mullet.

EUGENIE is dated as being licensed in 1916, and following World War One was purchased by the repatriation department and renamed EUGENE. Throughout the 1920s EUGENE was involved in a number of the local Strahan regattas, the Tasmanian Mercury noting a second place in the motor boat race on the 5 April 1929.

Ownership of the vessel in the 1930s was transferred to the influential Morrison family, known for their extensive involvement in the Huon pine logging and milling industry. For one, Reginald Francis Morrison is known as the pioneer of the modern tourist industry in Strahan, having the 60 ft motor launch J LEE M built in 1954 as a log tug in the pining season and a passenger launch during the tourist season. Reginald was further a central figure in the campaign against the Gordeon-Below Franklin Dam in the 1980s. EUGENE was most likely registered in the name of elder brother Jim Morrison, son of James M'Omish Horace Morrison, who also went by the name of Jim.

During this period EUGENE was used to ferry provisions and men to and from the Huon river with the task of towing logs to the main raft and pulling smaller rafts to Strahan on occasion. As the smallest of the Morrison's towing craft EUGENE certainly pulled above its weight in towing through long and hazardous stretches of water.

EUGENE reverted to its original purpose in the 1970s, identified as a a licensed fishing boat under the ownership of R Clark. It transferred in ownership in 2004 to Peter Higgs who named it GRAMARU after family tradition.
SignificanceGRAMARU is a wooden motor fishing launch built in Tasmania in 1910. It was used for fishing in Strahan and greater Macquarie Harbour region for the early part of the twentieth century. During the 1930s, GRAMARU was owned by the prominent Morrison family, known for their extensive involvement in the Tasmanian Huon Pine logging and milling industry. The motor launch ferried provisions and men to and from the Huon River and towed smaller rafts of logs to Strahan, and serves as a unique example of an auxiliary vessel involved in the Huon pine industry. GRAMARU has many decades of service to Tasmanian industry.