Marine Life Society of
South Australia Inc.
Newsletter
April 2008 No. 353
“understanding,
enjoying & caring for our oceans”
Next Meeting
The next General Meeting will be held in April
on Tuesday the 15th of April.
This will be held at
the clubrooms of Adventure Blue on the Patawalonga frontage at Glenelg at
8.00pm.
Our speaker will be Neville Skinner,
who will be showing the final Steve Irwin documentary “Ocean’s Deadliest”.
CONTENTS
The
Dunnikier Slip (& Its Links With The City Of Adelaide) (Steve Reynolds)
Please note that the new financial year has begun and memberships are now
due for renewal.
May will be the MLSSA AGM and
consequently we need nominations for Committee to be published in the May MLSSA
Newsletter. Non-committee members need to have a seconder if nominating for a
committee position. Please send nominations to the Editor before the 1st of May
for inclusion in the Newsletter.
The Dunnikier Slip (& Its
Links With The City Of Adelaide)
by Steve Reynolds
The
Dunnikier Slip is located on
the north bank of Gawler Reach on the Port Adelaide River
at Birkenhead. Gawler Reach is named after Lieutenant-Colonel George Gawler who
replaced Sir John Hindmarsh as the Governor of South Australia in 1838.
Birkenhead in South Australia is named after the
town of Birkenhead near Liverpool in England. ‘Birkenhead’ means ‘headland
overgrown with birch’.
The Dunnikier
Slip was built at Gawler Reach, Birkenhead between 1862 and 1867. Although it
still exists in a reduced form today (2008), the Dunnikier Slip’s future is now
under threat due to numerous new developments in the area. There is some small
hope for the future of the slip, however, as it has been suggested as being the
perfect location for a museum of sailing ships, including the City
of Adelaide.
A view of the
Dunnikier slip, facing north (taken by Steve Reynolds C.2005)
Governor
Gawler arrived in SA in October 1838, and by December of that year he had
suggested that a new port would be established on Hindmarsh Reach (named after
John Hindmarsh, our first Governor), on land fronted by deeper water (near the
North Arm of the Port Adelaide River). David McLaren, the Colonial Manager of
the South Australian Company, however, had decided that the new port would be
established on swampland owned by the South Australian Company and fronted by
the deepwater of McLaren Reach.
Governor
Gawler was under financial pressure to accept the South Australian Company’s
proposal and he duly agreed to it. He also dug the first spadeful of soil for
the South Australian Company’s new road to Port Adelaide in May 1839. McLaren
Reach was subsequently renamed Gawler Reach after our second Governor.
The
original slipway in the area was called Fletcher’s Slip after Henry Fletcher*
who had first established a shipyard at Birkenhead in 1849.
* Henry Fletcher was born as Henry Cruickshank Flett but
he changed his name to Fletcher to distinguish himself from several other men
working at his yard. Neil Cormack’s book “Sagas of Steam and Sail” says that
Flett had migrated from Orkney, Scotland with many other early settlers, including
several relatives. Seven relatives who were shipwrights like him and worked in
his yard were also called Flett so he changed his name to Fletcher to avoid
confusion with all his relatives. (One part of “Sagas of Steam and Sail”,
however, suggests that Henry Fletcher’s name was William Flett (with “William”
in inverted commas). This is only confusing things. He did have a son called
William.)
By 1851, Fletcher had built a slipway at his yard. It is
said to have been SA’s first slipway. Fletcher had used the ‘patent slip’
brought out to the colony by the South Australian Company for his slipway. The
South Australian Company had brought the ‘patent slip’ out to South Australia
in 1836 but had not yet installed it anywhere.
A ‘patent slip’ has been described as being a ‘marine
railway’ or ‘slipway’. The term ‘slipway’ is often abbreviated to just ‘slip’.
A ‘patent slip’ is said to be “A large mechanical apparatus by means of which
vessels may be hauled up high and dry on the shore, and whose keels may be elevated”.
The slip and its associated buildings were built on
reclaimed land. The land had been built-up using silt from the dredging of the
river bottom. An 8-man windlass with reducing gears powered the first winch
used for the slip.
The first boat to be launched from the slip after repairs
was the 477-ton ship Panama.
The slipway was later lengthened, enabling it to take two ships simultaneously.
Fletcher later installed a steam-powered winch to
replace the man-powered one. Within about ten years, the original slipway was
not able to work to full capacity, causing Henry Fletcher to purchase a patent
slip from the Dunnikier Iron Company, a foundry in Kirkcaldy (near
Dunfermline), Fifeshire, Scotland. (Fletcher himself was born
in Scotland (Strathness, Orkney), on 9th
March 1820.)
(A privately owned 18th
century country house hotel called Dunnikier House Hotel is situated in
parkland and adjacent to the Dunnikier Golf Course in Kirkcaldy, Scotland.)
This new ‘Dunnikier’ slip was shipped from
Scotland to Port Adelaide in two lots during 1862. The installation of the slip
began that same year. It was built on the western side of Fletcher’s Slip. The
new slip was very large and designed to take 2000 tons. It extended along the
river bottom, 360 feet into the river, approximately to the middle of Gawler
Reach. The installation of the Dunnikier slip*
was completed by 23rd
January 1867.
* (Also seen spelled as ‘Dunikier’, and
even as ‘Donniker’.)
The two slips continued
to work simultaneously. The first boat to be drawn-up on the new slip was the
698-ton iron ship Edinburgh on
11th
March 1867. She was then re-launched from the slip on 16th
March 1867.
A view of the
Dunnikier Slip, facing south (taken by Steve Reynolds C.2005)
An area
around what is now known as Semaphore Road, at Glanville, close to the
Dunnikier slip, was previously known as ‘Dunnikier Hill’. The section of
Semaphore Road between Causeway Road and Fletcher Road was previously known as
‘Dunnikier Road’ (or ‘Dunnikier Street’) after the name of the slipway. This
‘road’ led on to Rann Street. Dunnikier Road/Street ran from what is now
Causeway Road to Fletcher Road. Rann Street ran from Fletcher Road
(intersection of Fletcher Road and Heath Street) up to Elder Road. Fletcher
Road has also been called ‘Fletcher Street’ and it used to run right down to
Fletcher’s slip. It appears that the railway line from Port Adelaide to Largs
Bay jetty ran along Dunnikier Street and Rann* Street.
* (According to a list of Elected Members who served on
the Councils that now comprise the City of Port Adelaide Enfield, a John Rann
was Chairman of the Portland Estate Council from 1862 to 1866, a Councillor for
the Lefevre’s Peninsula Council from 1873 to 1874 and a Councillor for the Port
Adelaide Council from 1869 to 1878 and 1881 to 1884.)
Both Dunnikier Street and Rann Street were to later
become an extension of Semaphore Road. Semaphore Road previously used to turn
south towards Bower Road, but this section of Semaphore Road later became
Causeway Road.
According
to the web page found at http://www.airgale.com.au/turnbull/d3.htm
, Dunnikier Road at Birkenhead existed on 3rd
July 1888, when
Lieutenant Thomas Stewart Turnbull
married Francis Sophia Blyth there. Thomas was born in Port Adelaide on
11th
December 1864. His wife Francis was, coincidentally, born in Kirkcaldy,
Fifeshire, Scotland (on 17th
Nov 1862). It appears that many Turnbulls have been born in Semaphore Road at
Glanville.
According to the web page found at http://www.portenf.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=1159&c=22827
, improvements were made to the corner of Semaphore Road and Dunnikier Road at
Glanville after (or around) 1928. The City of Port Adelaide Enfield web page
features a photograph of the Semaphore Road and Dunnikier Road corner.
Henry
Fletcher became a prominent member of the Port Adelaide community. He was a
member of the Port Adelaide Institute Committee in 1851. He became a very
wealthy man and was able to buy partnerships in the Etna Iron Works for two of
his sons, John and William. He also bought a farm at Clarendon called ‘Prior’s
Court’ for another son, Henry Cruickshank junior. His fourth son, called Tom,
was employed as the secretary at Fletcher’s Slip.
Following the completion of Fletcher’s slipway in 1851,
several more slipways were established in the immediate area. These included
slips owned by Messrs. Jenkins, Playfair, Chant, Taylor, Murch & Moore,
Thomas Cruickshank and Thomas Swiggs.
In the 1880s,
Henry Fletcher began to excavate a graving dock (dry dock) on the western side
of his Dunnikier slipway. (John Adamson of Boston, Massachusetts,
USA had first patented a dry dock in 1816.)
This small dock is situated
adjacent to the western wall of the Dunnikier Slip (taken by Steve Reynolds,
2007)
Fletcher’s graving dock was opposed by the Marine Board,
but excavation work continued on it until 1890. Although there was a “Great
Shipping Strike” in 1890 and a depression in the 1890s, there was another
problem, one that ensured that the graving dock would never be completed. Some
seepage, which occurred after striking an underground spring, caused some major
problems. Costs to seal this seepage and complete the graving dock would have
been high. This, on top of the 1890 shipping strike and the 1890s depression,
impacted on the slipway business. Fletcher was forced to sell his son’s farm at
Clarendon and
the excavation work for the graving dock stopped and was never completed.
The graving dock had been almost completed, to the
point where the end gates were about to be installed. It was, however,
abandoned around 1896.
Low high
tides and the lack of bedrock for a base in the river both apparently made it
impossible to build a graving dock along the Port Adelaide River
(affectionately referred to as just the ‘Port River’). The site became a
popular swimming spot after the abandonment of the graving dock. It was used as
the site for several swimming competitions.
The
graving dock site is situated on the western side of the Dunnikier Slip site,
with a small piece of land between the two. The graving dock became known as
Fletcher’s Dock and was used for a dock as part of the Glanville Dockyards
complex. There may be some plans for the development of this site in the
future.
Henry Fletcher
is said to have lived with his family in a house at Fletcher’s Slip. According
to “Sagas of Steam and Sail” by Neil Cormack, “Mr Fletcher set up residence in
Hall Street, Semaphore.” This was quite close to the slipway. He later bought a
house at Woodville. When John Newman,
the shipping agent, died in 1873, Henry Fletcher bought Newman’s old house,
“The Brocas” on Woodville Road, Woodville. His son William
then took over the running of the slip.
‘The Brocas’ -
Henry Fletcher’s home at Woodville (taken by Steve Reynolds in 2007)
According to the web page found at http://www.thebrocasmuseum.com.au
, “The Brocas”, was dedicated as a Museum by the Woodville Council in 1975, the
year of the Council's centenary. The “Brocas Museum” was then managed and
operated by the Historical Society of Woodville Inc., with support provided by
the Council of the City of Charles Sturt. The museum has, however, since
closed.
The Port Adelaide Sailing Club was built
next to Fletcher’s Slip in 1897. Robina Fletcher, Henry’s
wife, died at the age of 76 on 2nd
October 1899.
The Outer Harbor* opened in 1908 and many of the
larger vessels no longer came down the Port River to the Inner Harbor.
* The 1913 Harbours Act established the official spelling
of all harbours in SA as ‘harbors’, including Outer Harbor, Inner Harbor and
Victor Harbor.
Henry Fletcher himself died in Woodville twelve years
later, at the age of 91 on 23rd
January 1912. His body was buried in the nearby Cheltenham Cemetery.
The South Australian Harbours Board acquired
Fletcher’s Slip in 1917. The SAHB used the proposed dry dock area as a berth
for laid-up dredges. The Adelaide Steamship Company leased the slipway and
yards from the SAHB in 1920.
General Motors –
Holden established its Birkenhead factory close to the yards in 1926. The old
Port Adelaide Police boat Archie Badenoch
was built at Holden’s Birkenhead factory in 1942 (so she’s a genuine ‘Holden’).
She was named after the first SA Police officer killed in El Alamein in WWII.
Archie Badenoch was from Port Adelaide. The little Police boat named after him
has spent most of its life on the Port Adelaide River.
The Archie
Badenoch moored by the Birkenhead Bridge
(taken by Noeleen Reynolds)
The ‘central’ slipway* in the area (Jenkins?) had
to be dismantled to make way for the construction of the Birkenhead Bridge, which
was built next to the sailing club. The ‘central’ slipway was rebuilt adjacent
to the end of Fletcher Road.
An ‘opening bridge’, the Birkenhead Bridge was the
first of its kind in Australia. The Governor of SA, Sir Malcolm Barclay Harvey,
officially opened the bridge on 14th December 1940.
The Birkenhead
Bridge (taken by Noeleen Reynolds)
In the mid-1950s, the SAHB carried out some extensive
alterations on Fletcher’s dock. Adelaide Steamship’s subsidiary company,
Adelaide Ship Construction Ltd, was established on the site in 1957. It was
about this time (in the 1950s) that an electric winch replaced the old steam
one. It continued to function until at least 1987. According
to “Sagas of Steam and Sail” by Neil W. Cormack, “the Dunikier (sic) slipway closed
in 1991”.
Fletcher’s Slip was closed
down in 1973 and it has been completely filled
in above the waterline. Use of the site has since lapsed
and the area is to be redeveloped as a residential area.
Ruth Jenkins of Flinders University wrote a
paper about Fletcher’s Slip and the Dunnikier Slip for her Honours degree in
2004. The paper, titled “Fletcher’s Slip: a case
study in the application of Multiple Perspectives Methodology in historical
archaeology”, can be viewed at
http://ehlt.flinders.edu.au/archaeology/department/publications/PDF%20Theses/Ruth%20Jenkins.pdf.
The paper provides many past and present details regarding
the two slipways discussed above. It says that, “There
are no longer any remains of the cradle which had still been on the Dunnikier
Slip as late as 1987. At extremely low tide iron rails going out into the
waters of the Gawler Reach are still visible. There are no iron rails remaining
above the low water line. The Dunnikier Slip floor is currently made up of
basalt blocks, copper slag blocks and concrete. There are also features of iron
and wood on the site.”
Ruth Jenkins’
paper includes a panoramic picture of the eastern wall of the Dunnikier slip.
The panorama is made from photographs taken by Adam Jenkins and digitally
combined by him. It shows some modification and repair work carried out on the
eastern wall.
Below are
some of my own photos showing the eastern wall of the Dunnikier slip: -
A portion
of the eastern wall of the Dunnikier Slip (taken by Steve Reynolds, December
2007)
Here is a
photo of a further portion of the same wall (closer to the river): -
A further
portion of the eastern wall, closer to the river (taken by Steve Reynolds,
December 2007)
Below is
a photo showing the river end of the same wall: -
The river
end of the eastern wall of the Dunnikier Slip (taken by Steve Reynolds,
December 2007)
The clipper
ship City of Adelaide,
which made 23 voyages from England to South Australia from 1864 to 1887, has
some close links with Port Adelaide, including Fletcher’s Slip at Birkenhead.
She would bring British and German migrants to SA and then return to London,
England with cargoes of SA wool and copper ore. Even though she is now the
‘world’s oldest (composite?*) clipper’, she is under threat of demolition as
she slowly rots away on a slipway on the Firth of Clyde at Irvine, near Glasgow
in Scotland.
* (Built with an iron frame and a timber hull.)
According to the
web page found at
http://cityofadelaide.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=53&limit=1&limitstart=1,
“When the City of Adelaide
made voyages, bringing migrants and manufactured goods, to South Australia, she
unloaded at Port Adelaide through August and September, then
moved to Port Augusta to pick up copper ore and wool in October. The copper
would act as ballast. On her maiden voyage, she returned to London with 100
tons of copper, 100 tons of ore, and 3,000 bales of wool.” And according to the
web page found at http://cityofadelaide.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=53&limit=1&limitstart=2,
“The City of Adelaide
is the last survivor of the wool clippers that carried South Australian wool
from Port Adelaide and Port Augusta to the London Markets and is estimated to
have exported 60,000 bales of South Australian wool.”
When
the City of Adelaide
first arrived in South Australia in 1864, she brought only three passengers
with her. Her second voyage, however, was a much bigger affair. She arrived at
Port Adelaide in July 1865 with a full complement of passengers. She was
greeted in the Port with fireworks and rockets. Many of the locals took to
boats to paddle out to greet the new arrivals.
In August 1874 the City
of Adelaide came fast ashore close to
Kirkcaldy* Beach, just south of Grange (between Henley Beach and Semaphore),
during a storm and she had lost her port anchor. She was ultimately re-floated
and towed to Port Adelaide on 4th
September 1874 to be inspected for damage at Fletcher’s Slip.
* (Kirkcaldy was also the location of the
Dunnikier Iron Company in Scotland where Henry Fletcher bought a patent slip
from.)
It is thought, at the time of writing,
that some attempts have recently been made to recover the port anchor
lost from the City of Adelaide
somewhere off of Semaphore.
The
City of Adelaide frequently
docked at Fletcher’s Slip in between her 23 voyages to SA from 1864 to 1887.
The ship lost its (English Oak?*) rudder off Kangaroo Island during a return
trip to London in November 1877.
* (According to the web page found at
http://cityofadelaide.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=59&Itemid=105
, “The main piece of the Rudder is of English Oak”.)
Upon losing the rudder, her captain, Edward
Alston, was able to bring the ship around by dropping chains overboard. The City
of Adelaide returned to Fletcher’s slipway at
Port Adelaide to have a new rudder made of Australian ironwood fitted.
According to the web page found at
http://www.afg.asn.au/resources/pdfs/Grower/Grower28,4/Vol28,4,pp11-20.pdf
, this replacement
rudder was built in the remarkable time of ten days.
The web page goes on to say that British archaeologists
asked the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries to determine
“whether the surviving City of Adelaide rudder,
much damaged by time and seawater, was the one they knew was built in Adelaide
in 1877, and if so, what was it made from? The two clues from the Adelaide
newspapers (of the day) were that there had been no piece of ironbark long
enough for its backbone and that a piece therefore had to be joined on or
‘scarphed’ to lengthen it. Sure enough such a joint could be seen, but full
proof needed the wood to be identified. DPI&F scientists confirmed that the
existing rudder was indeed made from grey ironbark and had seen nearly a
century of service.”
In October 1884, the (then) steam
tug Nelcebee
towed the City of Adelaide
out of Port Augusta for her return to London with a cargo which included wool,
manganese and skins.
There are plans
to bring the City of Adelaide
from Scotland to Port Adelaide and restore her at “Fletcher’s Slip” - the
Dunnikier slip (‘Fletcher’s’ is either a general term applied to the Dunnikier Slip
or there is a common belief that the Dunnikier slip is actually Fletcher’s
Slip.)
It
is hoped that the City of Adelaide
will be brought to Port Adelaide where she will then be able to rejoin the Nelcebee
(and the Falie)
as part of a permanent museum display in the Port. It is also proposed that one
of the Collins Class submarines become part of the museum display down the
track (2025?) when it is decommissioned.
It is hoped that the Dunnikier Slip
will be preserved for future generations to appreciate.