| Bulls Cruisers Boatbuilders |
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Talk to almost anyone about boats and wooden boat building on the Gippsland Lakes and the name Bulls Cruisers is on the tip of every tongue. Bulls Cruisers are to the Gippsland Lakes, like Halvorsens are to Sydney Harbour. Every sailor or boatie on the Lakes knows of and can recognise the famous Bull's Carvel Planked wooden cruisers that made up the Bull's Cruisers Hire boat fleet.
Many of the original Bull's Hire cruisers have found their way into the hands of recreational boaters and have been lovingly restored by their owners. To say the name 'Bull' is synonymous with Metung and the Lakes, is certainly an understatement. Following is a short history of the Bull dynasty of Classic Wooden Boat Builders. This is a transcript of an interview with Dave Bull senior and his son Peter Bull, manager of the Paynesville shipyard. Dave's grandfather, James Bull, was a seafaring man, who was born in Surrey, England, in 1848. He found his way to Gippsland in 1879 where he skippered various vessels including Magnolia and Dagmar. He then went back to sea, sailing colliers on the Melbourne to Newcastle run. This experience enabled him to sit for a 'Master Foreign-Going' certificate. Captain James Bull sailed the Burrabogie from the Murray River to Lakes Entrance and fitted her out as a floating hotel but, sadly a national financial slump ended that ambitious enterprise. Undeterred, and now in partnership with John Dahlsen, he went on to successfully operate the second Tanjil, a paddle wheel lakes trader. The original Tanjil was lost when she burned at the Bairnsdale wharf.
A Bull's Shipyard 14 metre carvel planked wooden workboat, powers it's way in through the entrance. Bull's boatbuilding history at Metung.James married Emily Baker in 1882 and settled in Bairnsdale. They had one daughter and four sons, Ted, Harold, Elizabeth, Robert (killed WW1) and Joe, who was born in 1894. Joe, or Bossie as he came to be known in later years, was educated in Melbourne and returned to the Paynesville slip as an apprentice in 1905, where the Gippsland, the largest vessel ever built on the Lakes, was under construction. Bossie started building boats on the site of his father's Metung Slip in 1913. His first boats were clinker dinghies. The Great War interrupted boatbuilding and Joe enlisted in the AFC (Australian Flying Corps), becoming an aircraft rigger with the No. 1 Squadron. He looked after Sir Ross Smith's Bristol fighter and served in Egypt with Lawrence of Arabia, after whom he would later name his third son.
Jiemba a 46 feet x 14 feet x 5.5 feet draught Motorsailer designed by Alan Payne, built by Bulls in 1966 Following the war, Joe returned to East Gippsland and eventually to Metung where, in about 1921, he picked up the threads and established Bull's Marine Industries. Joe Bull and his wife Beatrice had four sons, Robert (Bob), Dave, Lawrence (Teddy) and James. Teddy was killed in action over Germany in 1945. Dave was born in Paynesville in1922, and by the age 15, after a stint in Melbourne, he was working in the family boatyard until, war called. Dave joined the navy as a direct entry shipwright. He survived the sinking of the HMAS Canberra in 1942 and commissioned HMAS Shropshire. He left the RAN as a Chief Petty Officer Sipwright after 12 years of service, as did his second son Peter some years later. On his return from the war, the romantic steamer era of the Lakes had given way to road and rail. Nevertheless, the shipyard prospered, building many and varied vessels, including numerous wooden Bass Strait shark fishing boats.
Bull's Marine Industries was very much a family business with Joe, Bob, Dave, and Bob's sons Edward and Stephen also joined the company. Bull's recreational wooden hire boat fleet.The recreational-cruiser hire business, identified so closely with Bulls today, was a result of chance. Bossie aquirred an unfinished hull from Lindsay Mee, which would become the first Bull's hire cruiser, the Tanjil. The hull lay around the shipyard for some time while they wondered what to do with it. Eventually they decided to complete it as a hire cruiser. This first wooden boat was so successful that it was soon joined by the Koolyn, brought from Horace Steele. Thus, in 1958, the Bulls hire boat business was born.
The first yard designed and built wooden pleasure cruiser to emerge from Bull's slip was the Tarra, a four berth, 30 foot timber cruiser of hard chine construction and made from Celery Top pine, she was very popular. The six berth cruisers evolved from basically the same hull shape with the frames spaced out. They were predominantly built from Yellow Stringy Bark cut by Ezard's Mill and air dried for two years. The Bull's shipyard employed traditional shipbuilding techniques. Rather than relying on drawings alone, a boat's hull was first constructed as a wooden scale half-hull model. This model was refined and then measurements were taken directly from it and scaled up for final construction in the shipyard. The original half-hull model of the Tarra hangs proudly today in Dave Bulls garage. The first totally yard built hire cruiser was the six berth Burrabogie. In all Bulls built 22 six berth boats. The boats varied slightly as the design evolved to meet customer demands, but they were all instantly recognisable as Bullies.
Stormbird an original six berth Bulls wooden cruiser on the Gippsland Lakes And they were tough, being designed to inflict more damage on a jetty than themselves in a six knot collision! To the best of Peter's knowledge all of the boats are still afloat. Bull's Cruisers were all given historical names from the paddle wheelers and other ships that plied the Gippsland Lakes in Bygone years. Many of them still carry the same evocative names, for example... Bogong, Magnolia, Stormbird, Dauntless and Dargo. Koolyn and Burrabogie, Magnolia, Stormbird and others can be seen today in Paynesville's central harbour.
The wooden interior of Stormbird is typical Bulls Cruisers, functional with comfortable accomodation for six. Several of the Bull's Cruisers were sold to private owners in their later careers. Dave Bull recounted the story of one such boat... Josie. Josie was sold to a Melbourne identity, Percy Feltham MP and was berthed at Queenscliffe. Dave delivered the boat by sea, the voyage taking 36 hours and consuming 36 gallons of diesel... not bad for a big heavy wooden displacement lakes cruiser, powered by an ex London taxi BMC diesel! A condition of Josie's sale was that the yard would buy the boat back when the owner could no longer handle her. so, some years later the phone rang and arrangements were made to return Josie to Metung, again by sea. With Dave at the helm, they left Williamstown and turned right for the heads, when suddenly Dav's crew appeared and asked whether it was normal for the floor to be floating? Course was immediately changed for St Kilda where Dave beached Josie before she sank. The problem, a bent propeller shaft, was identified and fixed, and Josie eventually made it to Metung. Today,she is berthed on Jetty 4 at Slip Bight Marina in front of the Paynesville Motor Cruiser Club.
Peter Pan another example of a Bulls 33 feet classic wooden lakes cruiser Over the years the art of building traditional plank on frame wooden boats was becoming less and less cost effective for Bull's Shipyard. So in order for the boatyard to survive and continue operating they began the transition to aluminium construction. There was still a strong demand for timber vessel maintenance, but from around the late 70's, all new construction was done in alloy. The exceptions to this were the wooden hire cruiser dinghies, which Joe continued to make right up until he was in his eighties. Pete recalls..."We were 'under the pump' to get the last timber eight berth cruiser, Challenger, completed, the boat had been languishing for months. It was booked for hire in a few weeks but it was still in the shed without a deck, motor, floor and cabin. Consequently after 'a five minute discussion' it was decided to put an aluminium 'lid' on the vessel. After a few longt days and successful sea trials, amid normal yard activities, all commitments were met by the given date, with the coposite construction a resounding success !" Dave Bull's garage in Metung is an Aladdin's Cave of Lakes' memorabillia. Alongside the master shipwrights tools one would expect to find are many of Dave's paintings, modelships, half-hull models and historical notes and documents of all kinds. His unique painting style is instantly recognisable and visitors to the Metung Pub have probably admired his large painting of the lakes system without recognising the artist. Like their father before them, Dave's and his brothers' interests extended well beyond the shipyard.
Dave is a past Commodore of the Metung Yacht Club, (Life Member), CFA member for 35 years, RSL President, Legacy member for 54 years and Lion for 20 years. Joe Bull died aged 87 in 1981 and the family carried on the business until 1986 when it was sold. The shipyard produced 294 vessels over about 70 years. Over the years, the Bull family have had an enormous influence on the developement of commercial and recreational shipping on the Gippsland Lakes. Joe in particular was passionate about documenting and preserving the written and physical historical record of the region and Bull's significant part in it. Joe wrote three books about the history of shipping on the Gippsland Lakes. They were all self published and are long out of print, however they may be found in rare bookshops and make highly rewarding reading. Dave is also currently working on a book. Acknowledgements: • Dave Bull (senior) • Peter Bull • Sailing Ships and Paddle Wheels and Other Gippsland Shipping, by J.C. Bull 1978. • Small Ships and Adze Chips, by J.C. Bull & Peter Williams, 1967 • Salute to the Bull Family at the Great Australian Bite Dinner, by Jill Ellis, 1999
The editor Gary Plumley's first trip aboard a Bulls Cruiser was in 1968 during a school exchange sporting and social trip between Burwood High School and Bairnsdale High School. Our headmaster Mr Murdoch (ex Bairnsdale) had arranged the exchange so country and city kids could experience each others lifestyles. Billeted in Bairnsdale I was invited to a party by Steve Bull onboard Magnolia. After much partying we ran into a jetty at Eagle point at 1.00 am. I can personally vouch for the Bull's Cruisers six knot collision test .
FOOTNOTE TO READERS Visit St Peter-by-the-Lake in Paynesville to see a legacy to Joe Bull's wooden craftmanship The large windows behind the altar provide a panoramic view over Lake Victoria. On the exterior of the church is a mosaic in the form of a fish to recall the occupation of St Peter. Its position on a slope has enabled the construction of a crypt underneath the building which serves as a Sunday school and meeting room. It was completed at a cost of 11,000 pounds and dedicated on 25 March, 1961. If you attend the Paynesville Jazz Festival in February, a real toe tapping and head shaking musical mass is held on the Sunday.
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