THE BOAT BUILDING SHED

In the Museum grounds a replica of an early Queenscliff boat building shed has been built.  This shed displays the history of the unique Queenscliff Couta Boat and the early boat builders. The heading of our website shows couta boats under sail. Today the boatshed is used for display, boat restoration and repairs.

The Queenscliff Maritime Museum Boat Building Shed is designed in the same format as old time sheds used by many boat building craftsmen in the 1800s and 1900s.  The boatshed is 15 metres long by 14 metres wide giving a floor area of 210 square metres.  Murray Pine has been used in the support poles, trusses, rafters, glass panel doors and the wooden portion of the floor. This floor has plugged fastenings and caulked joints as in the deck of a ship.  The Boat Building Shed project was funded by the Museum, public donations of both money and material and 2000 hours of voluntary labour. It took 9 months to build.

Historical artefacts covering 100 years of boat building history are housed in the shed including memorabilia of the Queenscliff boat builders

THE COUTA BOAT

The couta boat is an integral part of the history of the coast of Victoria.  This vessel is probably based on the traditional Cornish fishing lugger, of wooden construction with a broad beam and originally powered by sail.

The Victorian version developed over the years between 1885 and 1930, and was in service from Queenscliff to Portland in the west, and across to Lakes Entrance in the east of the State.  Built in various sizes ranging from 20 to 30 feet long it was used for fishing along the coast of Bass Strait and in Port Phillip.  As a barracouta fishing boat in Bass Strait it proved to be a reliable and very seaworthy boat, used on many occasions as a lifeboat and pilot boat.  Couta boats and similar fishing vessels were also used in Tasmania, eastern South Australia and southern New South Wales.

The Barracouta is a large predatory fish which was found in great numbers in Bass Strait in the 19th and into the mid 20th Century.  The number today is very much reduced and the fish has gone out of favour with consumers.

The early couta boats had clinker or lapped planking. From the early 1900s most were being built with carvel (smooth) planking. They were partly decked with a large oval shaped cockpit starting behind the mast and had narrow side decks. The bow was fully decked over to ensure that the vessel would be seaworthy.

Worked by two men, couta boats were of shallow draught and fitted with a drop centre board.  Very long oars (or paddles as they were known) were required to manoeuvre the vessel when not under sail.  The couta boat has a large sail plan, set on a tall mast.  Originally lug rigged, from the early 1900s the gaff rigged mainsail became more common. The headsail is hauled out on a long downward curving bowsprit.  The boats carry between one and two tons of ballast, and from mid 20th century most had diesel engines installed to supplement sail power.

The couta boat which is displayed at the Museum was built in the Boat Building Shed. A photograph taken during construction is shown at left. It is 26 feet in length with a 10 foot beam and was designed in Queenscliff by boat builder Mitch Lacco in 1920 for local fisherman (and Geelong footballer at the time), Jocka Todd.

Whilst many of the old couta boats have been lost, they may still be seen around the coast and Port Phillip.  At Queenscliff couta boats with sails removed and powered by diesel engines are still used by locals to fish in Port Phillip and Bass Strait.

From the old tradition of couta fishermen racing under sail to be the first home with the catch a new tradition of recreational racing couta boats has grown.  There are a large number of couta boat enthusiasts in different parts of Port Phillip, primarily at Queenscliff and Sorrento.

The Australian Register of Historic Vessels (ARHV) contains two couta boats associated with Queenscliff.  They are CB23 Ariel built 1927, and C178 Maud built 1931.

The Queenscliffe Maritime Museum holds a 1/10 size scale model of Ariel built by boatbuilder Arthur Woodley of Crib Point. Ariel was built in Portland and continues to sail there under her present owner.  Maud is resident at Queenscliff and is sailed regularly by Museum members.

The DVD 'The Couta Boat - Return of a Classic' produced by the owner of Ariel is available at the Museum.

The Couta Boat Association (CBA) includes the register of couta boats and more history of the vessel. Click here to visit the web site of the CBA.

As mentioned on our home page the picture at the top of the page is of couta boats under sail.