Ron and Eddie Dobson, along with Donald ‘Jock’ Poole and his sons, Ian and Kim, built the trawler Pacific Venture in 1963; it was one of the last built in the Camden Haven and it has a chequered history.
How to make a good (trawler) boat
As Kim Poole remembers:
They started building in 1963 and as the frame took shape a flood was soon flowing through the structure. Kim and his brother Ian were swimming in the flood water retrieving the pieces of timber acquired from various sources to build the boat.
To build the bow, for instance, Jock wanted a specific shape and the three of them walked up onto Dooragan (North Brother) to find a tree with the right shaped branch. Spotting an Ironbark with a branch close to the desired shape they felled the tree and trimmed it where it lay. Once satisfied with the shape they rode the ‘bow’ down the steep slope like a sled.
Memorable highs and unforgettable lows
The trawler was one of three owned by Jock Poole over the years and is the last remaining here. In the 1960s and ‘70s the Pacific Venture, a key boat in the Camden Haven fishing fleet, supplied the Laurieton Fishermens Co-Op with sometimes record-breaking catches of fish.
Tragedy struck on board in 1979 when an accident with the propeller shaft injured Jock Poole and he died before he could be rescued.
Brought back from the dead
The trawler was sunk in the river during the March 2021 floods but was raised by Newcastle divers in July 2021; at that time Australian film director Damian Lay was planning to restore the boat and use it as the subject of a documentary. It has spent the years since then based at the Dunbogan Boatshed.
A final resting place
In April 2023, the Pacific Venture was offered by Damian Lay to the Camden Haven Historical Society Inc. Since then, with much help from local volunteers, the trawler has been towed across the river to Laurieton, was donated some time on the Fishermens Co-Op slipway for some vital hull-sealing, and then a berth at the Co-op while transport is arranged to a private property in Dunbogan for long-term restoration as a key museum display item.
The CHHS will be applying for grants as well as running various fund-raising events to cover the costs of materials and transport.
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