- a photo on Flickriver

untitled

            Upper passenger deck of the 1912-built Sydney Harbour ferry Lady Denman @ Balmain Ferry Maintenance Yard.   It is June 1979, and at the time of the photo this historic vessel had literally just been retired from regular service a day or two prior.

Lady Denman was one of five identical sisters built for the then Balmain New Ferry Company between 1910 and 1914.  Denman herself was built at Huskisson on the NSW South Coast by shipbuilder Joseph Dent (presumably from local South Coast hardwood) and would go on to work on Sydney Harbour for a prodigious and impressive 67 years.

These vessels - originally built as coal-burning steam ferries - were principally tasked with working around the Balmain Peninsula and Lane Cove River areas.   In later years they would become ubiquitous everywhere - and were common sights across all the North Shore wharves and anywhere apart from Manly that ferry services travelled.  Many today still remember them well and fondly.

Following retirement she was rescued from the usual fate of being broken up and instead was towed down the coast to Huskisson - back to where she had originally been built.   This tale is a long and very eventful story in itself.

She can be seen there today as the centrepiece of the Jervis Bay Maritime Museum in Huskisson - and remains the final large wooden Sydney ferry still in existence out of all the scores of them that once plied Sydney Harbour. (Sydney Heritage Fleet's Kanangra, by the way, is steel-hulled).

For anybody travelling through the Jervis Bay region on the NSW South Coast, this museum is well worth a visit.

As a final irony, Lady Denman was replaced in 1979 by the newly-constructed steel-hulled Lady Street - built by the NSW State Dockyard.  Very sadly Lady Street was prematurely retired (still in good condition) and subsequently cut up for scrap at Goat Island in 2005.  In the end Lady Denman would outlive her replacement!

Stuart McPherson photo.    June 1979.

Taken on: June 10, 2021

Tags:

ferry

SydneyFerry

Balmain

BalmainMaintenanceYard

BalmainFerryMaintenanceYard

LadyDenman

LadyDenmanFerry

Huskisson

SydneyHarbourFerry

MortBay

MortBayBalmain

JervisBay

JervisBayMaritimeMuseum

1912

1979

LadyStreet

LadyStreetFerry « less

Groups appears in: • Marine (3 per day) • Ferries more » • Ships and Vessels • Analog Photography • Old Photographs • White and Black Photography • Trove: Australia in Pictures • Traditional wooden Boats • Flickr Australia • Black and White Australia • Boats, the older the better • Maritime (anything sea related from all around the globe) • old boats • ANYTHING Transportation Related (Cars, Airplanes, Bicycles etc.) • Boats of All Kind • Black & White Australia • FerryPhotos • Historic Sydney • "Unlimited Photos: No Rules" • BLACK & WHITE PHOTOS (P1/A2) • Ship,ship,ship • Only Black And White • Film Only • Australian National Maritime Museum • FlickrCentral With No Posting Limit • ₪ BOATS + SHIPS ꖿꖿ PhotoGallery ₪ • Black and White All Over • Nautical...not naughty...but nice! • Nautical pictures of interest. • Your world of Ships, Boats, Yachts, Etc. Group • Black and White Photography Art • BLACK AND WHITE ONLY! - (POST 1, MUST COMMENT 3) • Black & White Done Right !. • Ferries Across Australia (No 30/60 Groups Limit) • I love Boats • The Best of Black & White ☯ • Simply Boats • All Ships/ Schiffe - No 30/60 • 10 Million MORE Photos • Black&White Photo Group • On Board a Ship or Boat • This is Why I Bought A Camera • Today's Flickr • World in Black & White... • Ferries of Australia & New Zealand (No 30/60 rule) • Boats, Yachts And Ships (No 30/60 Groups Rule) • 1,000,000 Ships • Interesting Aeroplanes and Boats • Stuff on Water • SHIPS, BOATS AND WATERWAYS • NSW (New South Wales) Unlimited • An Unlimited Black & White Photography Group • Sydney's Ferries • Ships and their Stories • 1 Million Ship Photos • Ferries + Water Taxis From Around The World • All Your Photos and Mine (No 30/60 limit - Photos from anywhere) • "All Australian Album" « less

Stats: 1,420 views / 1 comment

go back