Steam Tug Wattle celebrates its 90th with a big birthday bash 

Docklands’ very own important piece of Maritime Heritage, the Steam Tug Wattle, spent the weekend celebrating its triumphant journey to 90 years old, with a crowd of people in attendance. 

The birthday bash took place on North Wharf, on Sunday, June 25, and Captain Rob Anderson described the day as a “great success for Wattle, and the team of volunteers”. 

“Despite the terribly cold wind, it was great to see so many new faces, and we were all very happy and reassured by the interest shown by children,” he said. 

“I hope to be able to continue to attract their interest in the future, and once the restoration work is completed, and Wattle becomes operational again, I am very sure we will be carrying the same number of interested passengers who journeyed on Wattle 10 years ago.”

In the lead up to the big celebration, children in Grade one at Docklands Primary School also made a large number of birthday cards and posters that were hung up on the day. 

“The artwork from the Dockland Primary School children was a very big success and we are all very grateful for their efforts,” Capt. Anderson said.

“Many people commented on the display and I think I did a pretty good job pegging all 200 pegs up on the display mesh - there were quite a lot of them! At the end of the day I took them down and I will put them into a large binder to be kept for the future.”

On the day, the Steam Tug Wattle’s steam engine was running, there was smoke from the tall funnel, and its whistle and siren made for quite an exciting spectacle. •

As the team looks to the future, they are asking for volunteers and donations to help with the security of the invaluable Wattle. 

“A soon as we can raise $3000 we will install a state-of-the art security system; so every donation on Sunday, no matter how small, will help us immensely,” Capt. Anderson said. 

“As we are moving from 10 years of restoration to now becoming operational we need a new and different army of volunteer men and women, boys and girls, to help with the running of Wattle on weekends. 

“We also need people to help with catering, putting up flags, welcoming people aboard, cleaning and polishing, and also administration, marketing and computer skills.”