MV Macleay
Vessel numberHV000821
Previous owner
South West Rocks Pilot Station
Date1935
DimensionsVessel Dimensions: 10.36 m × 8.53 m × 2.74 m (34 ft × 28 ft × 9 ft)
DescriptionMV Macleay is a 34ft pilot launch that was constructed by prominent boat builders WL Holmes and Sons of McMahon’s Point, Sydney. MV Macleay’s keel was laid in 1935 and the vessel was commissioned into service that year by Mayoress (sic) J B McElhone who broke a bottle of sparkling Australian hock on the bow and ‘wished the Pilot, his crew and their boat success and safety in their work’. It is likely that MV Macleay’s centre line and framing was constructed of spotted gum or Sydney blue gum, the stem of melaleuca (tea tree) and the planking of NZ Kauri. These were common soft woods sourced at the time by Sydney boatyards. MV Macleay was fitted with a Reynolds Newbury (Manchester) diesel 20hp engine and the vessel was designed to be self-righting and as ‘unsinkable’ as possible. MV Macleay was specifically built and commissioned for service at the South West Rocks Pilot Station. It was one of four pilot boats built to one design for the State Department of Navigation of NSW – the others being Camden, Hastings, and Richmond. MV Macleay replaced the launch MV Ajax which came into service in 1932 but was destroyed by fire on 21 September 1934. The Macleay serviced the Trial Bay area until the vessel was decommissioned in the 1960s when the pilot station closed. It was housed in a boat shed on the eastern bank of South West Rocks Creek where the concrete slab of the boat shed still remains.
Some years later in 1993, the MV Macleay was found at Dora Creek Lake Macquarie. With funding from a local businessman Kempsey Shire Council purchased the vessel and it was returned to the Pilot Station Complex for out of water display. A group of volunteers then began restoring the vessel, the project gaining further traction in 2003 following support from local rotary and country clubs. Kempsey Shire Council provided additional financial support for the construction of a shelter for MV Macleay.
As of 2021 the MV Macleay is currently housed within the South West Rocks Pilot Station Complex, and is owned by the South West Rocks Maritime Museum. This site is on the NSW State Heritage Register, and includes Pilot’s and boatman’s residences, flagstaff and flag locker for signalling to ships, and views of the key approaches to the port or harbour. The precinct is located in an area known as the Horseshoe Bay Reserve on the southerly side of Trial Bay. A number of the original items used aboard the MV Macleay are kept within the complex, including the helms wheel, anchor, propeller, klaxon and boat horns, boat hook, life buoys, life jackets, and compass.
Compiled with the assistance of the South West Rocks Maritime Museum.
SignificanceThe MV Macleay was specifically built and commissioned in 1935 for service at the South West Rocks Pilot Station. It was constructed by prominent Sydney builder WL Holmes and Sons, and remained in service for thirty years until the late 1960s when the pilot station was decommissioned. MV Macleay remains intact as an out of water display at the South West Rocks Pilot Station Complex. It provides a historical record of NSW mid north coast pilot service during the mid-twentieth century.
1922
