The whining of a saw is the first sign there’s more than meets the ear
at this nondescript pale-green shed.But it’s two fellas along the shed’s far side, tenderly working their
hands down the hull of a dry-docked timber boat, that offers stronger
clues into the hive of activity inside.I’m at Goolwa’s Armfield Slip and Boat Shed on the bank of the
Murray where, Tuesdays and Fridays, men gather to build, restore
and maintain wooden boats.
Greeting me are Garry Coombes and Bob Jennings, chairman
and secretary of the volunteer organisation, supported by
Alexandrina Council.‘It’s quiet because of the weather, but normally we’d have thirty
people here,’ says Bob, a retired journalist, almost apologetically.The place is humming. Men huddle around the gorgeous timber and
copper skeleton of a boat alongside us, and others around a smaller
boat ten steps away that looks finished, with dapper green and white
paint and stained timber you can almost smell.
Others pace the room, hunting tools mounted on walls like fishing
trophies, while brown kelpies weave between our feet.
Conversation and laughter flows, only interrupted by saws, hammers
and the hiss of a steaming box.
Bob and Garry take me on a cook’s tour of the current projects
underway in the shed. There’s a sailing dinghy set to be raffled off as
a fundraiser, explains Bob. There’s one for a bloke ‘who wanted a
project.’ Another is singled out for showcasing a traditional building
method. ‘And that boat,’ adds Garry, a former woodworking teacher,
pointing back to the dinghy ‘looks traditional but uses modern
materials.’ It’s all a balance between the old and the new.I’m surprised to learn only one volunteer has a boatbuilding
background, while the rest are a motley crew including retired
woodworkers, schoolteachers and plumbers.The changing tide of tradition
Story by Jake Dean.‘Heard of osmosis?’ Garry chuckles when I ask how they learn
their skills.
A bookshelf in the corner is crammed with faded reference books,
but Google helps them just as often nowadays. Old meets new.
‘Skills here are more or less self-perpetuating,’ Bob adds.
‘Comparatively younger blokes learn skills from blokes who’ve been
here twenty years.’
Bob says this flow of ‘younger retirees’ keeps numbers steady,
ensuring skills aren’t lost to time.
It’s not just the tangible shared purpose – majestic boats gliding down
the river – that keeps volunteers coming back.
‘It’s the sense of community... a mutual support group,’ Bob says.
‘You talk about your lives and shared experiences,’ Garry concurs.
‘We look after each other. If someone’s not here for a couple of weeks
you check up on them.’
The group was recently approached by producers of the remake of
1976 film Storm Boy to design and build a 1950s-style timber boat
cabin and fittings. The deadline? Two weeks. ‘We had six-to-twelve
people here, six days a week,’ says Bob. ‘A miracle because
nothing ever happens that fast here,’ laughs Garry. ‘A group of
wrinkly old fellows being involved (then) going and seeing the film...
seeing ‘Armfield Slip volunteers’ in the credits was amazing.’
Bob points out the boat behind the shed, where the boat from
the original film – which Armfield volunteers also worked on –
floats nearby.
They’re just two of the wooden boats in Armfield’s historic fleet that’ll
be on display at the Wooden Boat Festival.
And in a modest green shed, its door wide open, you’ll find a bunch
of passionate blokes huddled around some works-in-progress, ready
to regale you with banter about how those boats are made.
Go to the Wooden Boat Festival this year – you will meet crew.
There’ll be food, wine, music and kids activities, plus plenty of other
boats – from canoes to paddle steamers – to see, keeping the
wonder of wooden boats alive in new generations.The Armfield Slip and Boat Shed is named after renowned Goolwa riverboat captain
and boatbuilder Samuel Armfield (1861-1933) and is the birthplace of the the South
Australian Wooden Boat Festival (Australia’s largest) at Goolwa on April 27-28.
Above: Inside the Armfield Slip and Boat Shed – keeping boat building and camaraderie alive.