Port River (#5 in series: out of the water…perhaps, out of luck)

 

The Falie is a notable, historic vessel – the last of its South Australian kind, and one of just two “survivors” among the many ketches that used to be Australia’s “coastal traders”.

It is more than a century older than the BBC Venus and Red Cosmos.

Almost certainly, neither of this series’ two previously-featured vessels has ever entered its registered, purely-notional, “false-flag” port.

However, you can believe what you read on the stern of today’s much smaller hero – Port Adelaide really was/is the Falie’s actual home port.

In 2024, however, this lovingly restored “icon” of South Australia’s maritime history has been out of service for nearly two decades, and there is no guarantee that it will ever sail again.

In 1986 – four years after her “retirement” – the restored Falie was relaunched, as the centrepiece of South Australia’s 150th birthday celebrations.

Over the following 19 years thousands of people – mostly tourists, but also marine biologists, self-improvers, and filmmakers – sailed on the Falie;  you may well have unwittingly seen the vessel on a TV or cinema screen, probably in something shark-related.

That all stopped in 2005, when serious deterioration of its hull plates was discovered.

The repair “challenge” proved more substantial/costlier than initially estimated.

Since then, no State Government has made the necessary “commitment”, and it has become obvious that public appeals and wealthy philanthropists are unlikely to “fill the gap”.

South Australia’s lack of sustained care for the physical legacy of its remarkably rich maritime heritage is absolutely “world class”… in the worst sense.

There has been no shortage of good initiatives and grand announcements.

However, the lack of sustained “follow through” has been repeatedly evident, in many cases, over many years.

Click this for a February 2024 account of what is happening – and not happening, still – in relation to the Falie.

The Falie’s Wikipedia entry needs updating, but gives a good overview of the boat’s eventful history.

In World War Two this modest-sized vessel disabled a Japanese midget submarine in Sydney Harbour. It also served overseas.