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Abstract

The ferry Maweena was built in 1913 in Hobart and owned by the
Whithouse family for the New Norfolk trade. She left from
Hobart in the afternoon to steam to New Norfolk, returning
to Hobart at 8am the next morning. Another ferry, Marana
did the opposite run. The Maweena stayed overnight in
New Norfolk, the crew bunkered up the fires, piling the coal
into a heap, before they knocked off for the day around
midnight; in the morning about an hour before sailing, they
would stir the fire up to raise a head of steam.
The time taken to make the journey mainly depended on
how many stops had to be made, to allow passengers to
alight and embark and to deliver mail and parcels. Regular
stops were at Sorell Creek, Old Beach, Bridgewater, and
the zinc works. Above the Bridgewater Bridge was Lime
Kiln and several little jetties, along with Sorell Creek and
the newsprint mills, these were sometimes included in the
route. The journey might take 3 to 4 hours, but could be
reduced to 2 ½ hours if waters and the run were smooth.
Maweena ran on a crew of five under the skipper. There
was a leading deck hand, two deck hands, the engineer
and fireman.
Herbert Whitehouse died in 1928 and his young widow
was left Maweena which she operated under charter to
the O’May brothers to earn income to support her family.
The O’May Brothers of Bellerive had sold off their own ferry
fleet and used the chartered vessel to re-enter the ferry
business. In January 1929, Maweena was burned to the
waterline in a suspected arson attack against the O’Mays. Photograph Collection Pr.Shp. 2

Item Type:	Image
Authors/Creators:	.
Keywords:	Photograph, Tasmania, Ferry, Derwent, University of Tasmania, Special & Rare Collections
Collections:	Other Special Collections Photograph Collection
Additional Information:	Photograph from the University of Tasmania Special & Rare Photograph Collection Pr.Shp. 2
Item Statistics:	View statistics for this item

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