We’re Going Dutch in Franklin

Event organiser Elsje Steen puts the finishing touches on a specially decorated bicycle provided for the team’s transport.

What a turn-out to welcome our six Dutch boat builders and their instructor in Franklin earlier this month!  Who knew there was such a large Dutch community in the Huon Valley and that they would be so willing to come along and welcome this team of enthusiastic young people, here to build a popular Dutch design sailboat called a BM?  And what a remarkable story – Dutch craftsman and women visiting an island on the far side of the work on the 375th anniversary of their countryman’s incredible feat of seamanship that put Tasmania on on European maps for the first time.  The Wooden Boat Centre and the Living Boat Trust in the lively river port town of Franklin hosted a welcome and a barbecue for around 100 people on the 5th of December, the date of the traditional Dutch Christmas Eve.

Presents are an important part of that celebration and there was no shortage on the day.  Saw miller Dave Golding steered his beautifully restored boat Kerawynn into an elegant arrival at the WBC wharf, bearing stacks of donated timber from Hydrowood, the pioneering company that reclaims valuable boat-building timber from Tasmania’s highland lakes.  Sponsor Blundstone tossed in some very useful Wellington boots for the crew and St Nicholas (patron saint of children and sailors) came to call with more goodies for the team, and for a gang of school children from Franklin Primary School.

Hydrowood director Andrew Morgan presents the rare celery top pine timber

AWBF Chairman Steve Knight welcomed the team to Tasmania on behalf of the Australian Wooden Boat Festival.  Andrew Morgan from Hydrowood officially handed over the timber from which the boat will be built and Commissioner for the Huon Valley, Adriana  Taylor gave the group a warm welcome to the valley in fluent Dutch. AWBF general manger Paul Cullen explained the broader scope of the Dutch Project and the 375th anniversary of the first European visit by Abel Tasman. He also commented on the long tradition of Aboriginal boat building on our island.  Wooden Boat Centre manager Anne Holst welcomed them to the boat building shed where they will be working for the next eight weeks and LBT Secretary Richard Forster extended a personal welcome to instructor Bert van Barr.

The team will work and live in Franklin, enjoying home stay hospitality, before moving the boat to Hobart for completion at the Shipwright’s Village on the festival site.  And then it might be time for a little friendly racing to see how the BM stacks up against the local fleet!