"Autobiography of Gulf St Vincent South Australia & the Port River"
by Laurie Garnaut

1. In 1986, one of my nephews from South Australia contacted me and suggested I write about my impressions of the early days of South Australia so I told him as much as I could remember about my years from 31st August 1918 until I joined the Navy on 14th June 1938. I will repeat it as I told him, but along the way I may add a few other incidents as they come to mind. I may make a few mistakes, but I will tell the story as accurately as I can, and I know I will not spell some of the names correctly because I do not have access to records and I only have my memory to rely on.

2. I am writing under the heading of ”The Gulf” because my life in those early days were associated with St Vincents gulf and the Ketches that operated wheat, barley and salt transport from the ports on Yorks Peninsular back to the steamers and sailing ships waiting at Pt Adelaide and the Outer Harbour to ship the cargoes overseas to England and Europe. Spencers Gulf also played a big part in these operations, but I was only associated with St Vincents Golf and the ports of Price, Ardrossen, Julia, Vincent, Stansbury and Edithberg. If my memory is correct there were about eighty Ketches and Schooners in those waters in my days, and they were controlled by two separate firms of shipping agents, one named Frickers and the other Crouch. The system worked was the first to arrive back with a load to Port Adelaide was the next in line for the next load that was required. This made the trade very competitive and there were unofficial Ketch races going on all the time with each Ketch trying to beat the other to the next load. At times you may have to wait weeks for the next load and Birkenhead wharf would be packed with Ketches waiting for orders. Every Ketch would be ready to go at a moments notice and I have seen up to eight or more sent to say Port Vincent for a load of wheat for a steamer or a sailing ship waiting at Port Adelaide. It was always a mad scramble to get away and beat the other fellow across the Gulf. Load up first and get home first.

3. While it sounds exciting and glamorous it was a hard life and when I was a kid there were no engines just sails and with most of them that luxury did not come until the middle

4. and late twenties. Like all the southern coast of Australia St Vincents Gulf cops what we called the southerly busters which originate in the deep south of the Southern Ocean the gales hit suddenly and God help anybody caught in them. We got caught in many but the Ketch Captains of that era were equal to any and in looking back it was a pleasure to have been a part of it and the pleasant memories to look back on in later life.

5. I was born in Semaphore 31-8-18 and at the age of about two Dad had a house built at 73 Fletcher Road Birkenhead and I lived there right up until I joined the Navy in 1936. I am the youngest boy of seven children with a older

6. Page 2 - and a younger sister Monica (Schar). Nonie and Bob an older brother are the only members of my family still living. Since I left the Navy in 1950 I have been living in Cairns, and up to now my wife and I have I9 grandchildren. Because our whole lives were associated with St Vincents Gulf we all spoke about “The Gulf” and Spencers Gulf was always referred to as “The other Gulf”, and that is why I have headed this autobiography “The Gulf”.

7. My Dad Captain Thomas Bernard Garnaut was one of the well known Ketch masters and my brothers and I spent most of our early lives going to sea with him, and we only attended school between trips. My eldest brother gained his Masters certificate and I was named after another Master mariner Captain Richard Lawrence Garnaut a brother of my Father. He had a son also called Richard, so I was always known as Laurie to avoid confusion. I also have a son Richard Lawrence (Laurie).

8. Dad became associated with a Ketch called “LULU” in the early twenties and about 1925 he and a Robert Ritch bought here Dad operated her until she was finally beached in the Port Adelaide River and broken up about 1937. The Lulu of 43 tons was built by Grant and Company of Belfast Viotoria, she was square stern, fifty five feet long with a beam of just over sixteen feet with a seven foot draught. She was two masted with a Jib, Staysail, Main and Missen, and she carried a Main and Missen Topsails, however like most other Ketches the Topsails and Topmasts were removed when she became equipped with an engine. Prior to the engine era she carried around a thousand bags of Barley and about eight hundred and fifty bags of wheat.

9. My Mother took me to sea when I was only a few weeks old, and practically all my Ketch life was in the LULU, and even as a little kid my Dad and an older brother Jack and myself became the permanent crew of the LULU, and for a period before he got a job as a butcher my brother Bob went with us. I suppose by todays union standards and safety regulations a crew of six or seven would have been required. After I started school at the Dominican Convent Semaphore I only went to school between trips, and finally stopped going when I was twelve. The Dominican Sisters who tried to teach me must have been glad to see the last of me, but I could never forget those days, and what they did manage to teach me was my main asset through life. Our Parish Priest who I was told married Mum arid Dad really made a lasting impression and he was still there at the Sacred Heart Church Semaphore when I joined the Navy in 1938.( Rev Father Hanrahan).

10. Wheat and barley were our main cargoes, and it arrived down at the ships side on a small railway truck loaded with about eighty, three bushel bags. The wheat weighed up to two hundred pounds, and the barley about one hundred and. fifty pounds, the bags were slid down onto the hatch on a shute, and passed down into the hold (my job) onto a waist high stack then carried and stowed by Dad and my brother Jack. After the hold was filled the hatches replaced, and a tarpaulin tightly stretched over the top and another hundred odd bass stacked

11. Page 3 - on top, and then covered with another tarpaulin and lashed down so as the deck load as it was called would not move in heavy seas.

12. After the LULU and most other Ketches were fitted with engine rooms and lost cargo space in their holds, to trim the vessel it was necessary to stack on either side right aft cargo, the steering wheel instead of out in the open would be surrounded by stacks of grain. Dunnage was used to keep the bags clear of the deck and well covered with tarpaulins, so it is not hard to imagine what it was like to be fully loaded and caught up in one of those southerly busters in the middle of winter, we would be wet cold and miserable, and usually a plank or two would open up and taking it in turns man the pump to keep the bilges dry, and the most pleasant moment was the Outer Harbour breakwater and calm water then home.

13. On arrival back in Port Adelaide we would go alongside whatever vessel we had cargo for, and the Waterside workers came on board and put around thirteen bags in rope slings and the ships winches would lift them out. We never had to handle the cargo or use any of our gear to unload. There were occasions when the grain may be for the local market, then we had to unload it ourselves using our own gear, and that was a long job because with a little engine we had on deck we could only lift two bags at a time, and prior to the engine I remember a horse being used on the wharf connected to our derrick and the grain was lifted out in that manner. Any spillage would be swept up after, and our chooks at home must have been the best fed in Birkenhead.

14. There were times when the last bag was lifted out we would be on our way again down the river for another load, and by the time we went through the Outer Harbour breakwater into the open sea all the hatches would be in place over the hold and covered with a tarpaulin and everything battened down ready for another South Westerly battering or a nice smooth trip, life was certainly never dull. I remember one trip when I was only fourteen at the time, we took on a full load at Pt Vincent on the Tuesday, my brother Tom loaded up before us, he was the Skipper and owner of the Edith Alice and he sailed for home at midday. The Old Man ( Those old skippers were always affectionly known as the Old Man even in my Navy days it was always the Old Man) told Tom not to leave but he knew it all and said he would race the expectant gale home. By the time we had finshed loading it was blowing a howling gale, so we waited and got under way at daylight the next morning.

15. When we sailed on that Wednesday morning it was still blowing but had eased considerably and with the winds and seas on our starboard quarter and we looked like enjoying and having a fast trip home. When we were on our way and about twenty miles into the gulf, Dad, who had eyes like a hawk spotted a speck on the horizon and said it was a fishing cutter in difficulties. Jack and I were ready to argue with him, but that was not on, so we put the LULU about on the other tack which was not an easy job fully loaded in those seas. However it was a fishing cutter and he was sinking and the loan fisherman

16. Page 4 - who could not swim. We got a line on board and because of the heavy seas we could not get aboard, so my Dad put me over the side with a life line, and I went hand over hand down the tow line, and the fisherman Joe Vanente helped me aboard, and between the two of us we were able to check the flow of water. In the meantime Dad headed for what was known then as Long Spit, it is a long sandy spit always covered with water and stretched for miles out into the gulf somewhere between Pt Wakefield and the Outer Harbour, and at the end of the spit was a flashing light beacon, and it was a great haven for Ketches and all types of other craft to get in behind the spit, it was good anchorage and a good spot to ride a storm out.

17. When we arrived the Edith Alice was there, she had been caught in the gale the day before, and blew out her main and Missen sails and was having engine trouble, so Dad decided to stop and help Edith Alice, and after we made repairs to the fishing cutter and pumped her dry it was about 8PM on the Wednesday night so Dad told me to take the Cutter to Pt Adelaide. Joe had to bail the whole way, but we made it O.K. It was about 11PM when we went past the Outer Harbour wharves, and told the wharf watchman to organise a slip for us and when we arrived at Port Adelaide the slip was ready and waiting for us. Joe was really overcome and wanted to give me the world and he told me I had a friend for life, but strange to say I have never seen or heard of him since.

18. The good part about that experience was home for the weekend and what we always hoped for. I felt I stole a march on the others, and Mum did not believe me for a while. LULU and EDITH ALICE arrived on Monday morning. I found a battered old cutting from the Advertiser (1932) Surname is spelt wrong and Black Pond should have been Black Point.

19. Page 6 - There was always plenty of fish on those trips, and if we had the time and fine weather there was always a fishing line trailing behind, in those days we used cord lines, and with one hook hooked in side the other and a piece of white rag for bait we could catch as many barracouta as we wanted, sometimes we would hook a shark, but could never land them and the line would soon snap.

20. I could go on for hours reliving that era, it was interesting and fascinating. There were miniature passenger liners like the Moonta and Minnipa carrying cargo and passengers to Kangaroo Island and Port Lincoln, and to see a Sailing Ship under full canvas heading home to England and Europe with a full load of grain was a never to be forgotten sight. There were always Ketches under full sail coming and going, and quite often before dark they would sail on a different course to yours, and they would let you think they were going to a different destination to you, and when you arrive at the particular port during the night they would be there ahead of you and ahead of you on the loading queue, so you pushed your craft all the time and as I mentioned before it was a continuous race against each other, I suppose it was the survival of the fittest

21. At the risk of spelling some of the names wrong I will list some of the Ketches and Schooners I can remember. Yalata, Coringal, Merle, Nelcebee, Lurline, Falie, Wellington, Betty-Joan, One and All, Precilla, Stormbird, Doris, Cecilia, Hawk, Adonis, Reliance, Mary, Vivid, Gerard, Argossy Lemale, Eva, Eva-Leta, Leta May, Edith Alice, Pengana, Lulu, Annie Watt, and the prettiest looking Ketch of them all the Hecla, she was only a small Ketch and had a permanent job carting salt from Port Price to Port Adelaide. My Father often relieved her skipper, and on those trips I always went with Dad. Salt being heavy there was never a deck load, and that made for a fast and comfortable trip.

22. I can remember the names of some of the Ketch families among them was the Neegans, the Edwards, the Bishops, the Angelin and the Heritage family. Roy Heritage and I were quite good mates, our two familes lived in Fletcher Rd Birkenhead and his Father had the Adonis. During the war Roy was an Able Seaman on the H.M.A.S. Sydney one of our light cruisers, and I was on the H.M.A.S. Platypus with Roys younger brother and it was a very sad time when we got word that the Sydney was missing, and later was sunk with all hands, and I was trying to comfort the younger brother and kept telling him that Roy would be O.K. Fortunately they flew the lad home.

23. The Tugboats were another interesting side to our lives and the ones I remember best are the Woonda, Wato, Foremo St and the Florrie. Dad, when I was real young spent a period as Tug Master on the Florrie. It was a real treat being on the bridge of the Florrie when one of the big passenger liners with a full load of passengers being manoeuvred clear of the wharfe, and the tugs would get covered in streamers. Before engines in the Ketches the Tugs would tow as many as five or six at one time, out through the breakwater at the Outer

24. Page 7 - Harbour and let them go in the open sea. if there was enough wind they would not need a tug. During the war the Navy took over the Wato and I saw a lot of her, I remember one time the Wato got straddled by a stick of bombs, and it looked like the Wato’s swan song, but when the smoke cleared out she steamed without a scratch and as far as I know she survived the war.

25. The schooner Falie has been preserved and has had a complete refit, she brings back memories to the Garnaut family because she was named after my Dads sister Falie. She was the wife of a Captain Broun who went to Holland and bought her out to Australia after she was built in 1922. She was named the Hollands Trow but was renamed and registered when she arrived at Port Adelaide. My three older brothers served in her at various times as crew members. he had quite a colourful career during the second world war, and after the war I saw her trading up and down the Queensland coast. I was fortunate in being able to have a look over her in Cairns one day.

26. I must mention the Waterside Workers, because they played an important role in all the shipping that passed through the Gulf. During the depression when the Ketches were virtually at a standstill my Dad drove a winch in one of their gangs so he must have been a member of that Union. Dads brother Lou was in charge of one of the gangs, and I remember how he used to skite about his gang having the record for moving so many bags of wheat in one hour.” I wonder if the gangs do it today? I could never forget the wharfies big strike about 1930. It was almost a civil war, and migrant farmers were bought down from the country under police escort and load the ships. This really upset the wharfies and they gathered in their hundreds and without warning with sticks and stones raid a ship and throw the scabs over the side and be gone before Police reinforcements arrived. We as kids did not know what was going on, and a scab was the enemy, but when the Mounted Police scattered the wharfies that was O.K. too. That strike was a terrible event and many families suffered. I can remember the Saturday night concerts in the Port Adelaide Waterside Workers hail to help the victims of the strike and it was a silver coin admission ( a lot of money in those days ) and top entertainers gave their services free. My brothers were all musical and played the piano violin and drums and with a couple of others they were the orchestra and were paid with a box of groceries.

27. I remember one incident during the strike I was on the LULU with Dad and my brother Jack and the scabs were unloading us when all of a sudden the, steamer was attacked by hundreds of wharfies. We hopped in our dinghy and sat in the middle of the harbour to watch, and there were scabs swimming all around us, but we would not help them except one who could not swim, and I dont recall any scab being fatally injured. I still don’t know what the strike was all about, but one day I might find out

28. Another tragic incident I remember when I was only six a 6500 ton steamer unloading at one of Port Adelaide’s docks she was the “City of Singapore” and caught fire while

29. Page 8 - unloading explosives and during the night she blew up and killed three firemen and injured many others. During the funeral the whole of Port Adelaide came to a standstill and today there is a statue of a fireman over the graves. I don’t know if it became official but that dock was always known as Tragedy Dock.

30. Early in the thirties when the world price of grain dropped to an all time low, and the grain export trade just folded up that was the beginning of the end for the Mosquito Fleet (Ketches). The world depression had begun and just about everybody I knew was out of work. I managed to get a job with a Port Adelaide Butcher E.D. Matthews Ltd working a fifty five hour week plus for one pound a week, and after working for a couple of other firms still on the one pound per week I joined the Royal Australian Navy on a twelve year contract on 14-6-38.

31. I suppose there would be numerous stories that could be told about those early days and I often think of the many friends we made on Yorks Peninsular, there were the Farmers who sold us beautiful large fresh eggs for a penny a dozen, I will stand corrected on that price but I am sure it was a penny, there were the Storekeepers, Harbour Masters and their families, and the various people who worked on the grain stacks loading the wagons that run down the tracks onto the wharf e. I visited the Peninsular in 1984 and the only people left were the descendants of the Farmers, it seems to have become a haven for retired people, and what a delightful place to retire. There were sadly except for a few fishing boats no sign of any sort of ship. I do remember my Dad telling me before my time he had a ketch called the Dashing Wave, and many of the Peninsular ports had no jetty, so they floated up on the beach on the morning tide, the tide went out and the horse and drays ran alongside and loaded them that way, and on the evening high tide they would float off and get underway and head for home. Thinking about it since, they would need to calculate the different depth of water required.

32. On that visit home in 1984 except for the Falie laying alongside being refitted for the Anniversary of South Australia , the Port Adelaide Sailing Club, and Ma’s Birkenhead Hotel every thing seemed different, hardly a sign of a ship anywhere, even the penny fare ferry was conspicuous by its absence and replaced by a bridge. The old ferry run between the end of Commercial road and Birkenhead, and I think it was run by the Murch family, it was good to see Ma O’Shannessy’s Pub. I had lunch there and spoke to a few locals, but there was no sign of any old timers. Seaman from all over the world respected Ma, and she ran a very tight ship, and behave yourself or else. As a teenager I was never allowed near the place, but during my days as a Butcher I delivered meat to the Hotel and got to know Ma quite well, and I remember at the sailing club a few of us used to put in a few pence each and bought a one gallon flagon for two shillings, I sailed. with Jim Needle in his twenty one foot class yacht “TERN” and they were happy days.

33. There many Ketch Masters equally as good as my Father but to me he was the best,

34. Page 9 - and he was uncanny with his navigation and his knowledge of the weather, there were no up to date weather reports like we get today. Many sporting clubs and other people planning weekend functions and picnics would come to him during the week for his opinion of the coming weekend weather, and I can still picture his ritual of going outside look about have a few big sniffs and give his opinion. I don’t recall him ever being wrong. Sometimes when we were at sea it would be a beautiful day and all the sails set and home getting nearer, when all of a sudden he would yell out reef everything, take in the jib and make sure everything was battened. If you did not know him you would think he was nuts, but sure enough within the hour in would come a southerly buster. You could see them coming like a dark shadow racing across the water. I have been in them all North Sea included, and the southern Australian coast is as good as any. Another thing I have seen him do, on many a trip, we would be sailing out the Port River and arriving at the Outer Harbour it would be blowing real hard, and there would be several ketches waiting inside the breakwater for the weather to ease off, but Dad would pretend he did not see them and sail past out into the open sea, and I can still hear some of the yells he would get, “you bloody fool etc” but; he would take no notice, just keep going down the coast pass Semaphore and Glenelig then go about and head across the gulf. He would. say its only a land breeze and sure enough a few mile out it would be beautiful. One time he done that, went to Stansbu.ry loaded up and passing through the breakwater the other Ketches would still be sheltering.

35. Dad was also good at finding his way into the Peninsula Ports at night on a pitch black night, he would say start the engine take down the sails and it would not be long before the jetty would loom up dead ahead.

36. Many of our relations and friends at one time or other have been on trips with us, and during a Regatta or a motor boat race at the Outer Harbour we would make a weekend of it, all the other Ketches would be there with bunting flying and it would be really great and good to look back on. Ketch races were an annual event off Semaphore and in those days they all carried topsails, and Dad in Edith Alice and sometimes Pengana was really at his best.

37. In 1936 they had the Centenary Ketch Race, I was working at the time but stood for a while on the esplanade and watched the race, Dad was sailing One and All, and the Adonis won that race.

38. After I joined the Navy in I938 my three brothers were

39. Page I0 - at sea on various ships, so my Mother and Father moved to Goodwood along with my sister Monica, but Dad did not last many years after that, I believe he would often go down to Glenelg and sit for hours looking out to sea, its a pity his thoughts in those idle moments could not be recorded for posterity. I was away at the war when he died and I could not make his funeral.

40. Even though my contribution was so minor it was a pleasure and a privilege to have played a. part in the life and death of an era. The Ketches have gone and modern technology and road transport has taken over, but as I look around and see the life young people have to cope with today and I could have my time over again I would like it to be just the same.

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