Tacoma tuna vessel returns home

Sunday, 20 February 2011 10:42

The historically significant 84 ft wooden tuna clipper MFV Tacoma returns to Port Fairy this weekend, sixty years after it was launched.

The MFV Tacoma was built by brothers  Bill, Alan and Hughie Haldane on the banks of the Moyne River. It arrived back in Port Fairy for official celebrations this weekend, including morning tea on the MFV Tacoma and unveiling a plaque on the site the vessel was built in the 1940s.

The clipper is stopping in Port Fairy on its way back to Port Lincoln after having spent a week in Hobart as one of the feature vessels in the 2011 Australian Wooden Boat Festival. The vessel has been restored over the past 3 years by a group of dedicated volunteers,
all members of the MFV Tacoma Preservation Society.

"We are delighted to be able to return the vessel to Port Fairy for these celebrations. It will be a nostalgic time for all onboard and I think it will bring back a lot of memories for some of the older residents of Port Fairy to see her again," Ross Haldane, son of boat builder Bill Haldane said.

It took the Haldane brothers seven and a half years to build the MFV Tacoma. It was launched on the high tide at 0338 on the morning of Monday November 5th, 1951. A bottle wrapped in blue and white ribbon and filled with salt water from what was to become her homeport in South Australia, Port Lincoln, was broken on her bow.

An important chapter in the history of the Australia fishing industry began with the launch of the MFV Tacoma. It was the first purse seine vessel in Australia and it pioneered the multi-million dollar tuna fishing industry in Port Lincoln. Its design was based on vessels being used in the expanding tuna fishing industry in the Pacific North West of Canada and America.

More information:

• Tacoma Preservation Society