Boat From Past Brings River Town Hope For The Future

The Age

Thursday October 23, 2008

By Jason Dowling

IT HAS been almost 100 years since paddle steamers plied the waters of the Snowy River. Now they're back.

The Curlip II was launched yesterday morning near the East Gippsland town of Orbost and will begin tourist cruises next month - 90 years after the original Curlip paddle steamer, which operated on the Snowy River, was destroyed in a storm.

The return of the boat is thanks to 16,000 hours of volunteer work in Orbost and Marlo and $1.2million in state and federal government funding.

Gil Richardson, a retired farmer and relative of the original Curlip owner, has taken five painstaking years finding blue gum timber and helping build the 45-tonne boat.

Mr Richardson said he was proud of his achievement.

"You couldn't quite believe the emotion you have," he said.

The 78-year-old said he hoped the new Curlip would help create jobs for Orbost.

"The original Curlip was instrumental in developing this area. We are hoping the new Curlip will be commercially successful and keep young people here and gets jobs for them," he said.

The Curlip II was constructed in the old butter factory in Orbost and will soon begin taking up to 50 passengers a cruise. The first official cruise will be on November 30, with tourist cruises beginning shortly afterwards. Tourists will pay $27.50 for a 90-minute trip on the Snowy River. The new business is operated by a not-for-profit community group.

Liz Mitchell, business manager for the Curlip project, said the paddle steamer would be a confidence boost for the town.

"Orbost is a traditional timber town. It is isolated, suffered from massive timber job cuts - it has not had a history of major tourism, yet it has got fantastic natural assets," she said. "The impetus is to make the Curlip a key tourist drawcard."

Ms Mitchell said the Curlip would have an eight-kilometre range on the Snowy, well down on that of its namesake, because of the reduced water flow.

"The original used to travel up to 10 kilometres upstream of Orbost, which is 25 kilometres upstream of the mouth," she said.

Gippsland East MP Craig Ingram, a keen advocate for increasing water flows to the Snowy River, said the new Curlip would be a "spectacular asset for our region for tourism".

"We haven't got a lot of iconic experiences and in my view that is what it will become," he said.

© 2008 The Age

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