ONCE upon a time, everyone had their favourite story about the familiar Stockton-Newcastle vehicle ferries.
The most common tale was from motorists moaning of having to wait too long (up to an hour) for their short, seven-minute voyage across the harbour. Over time, people became increasingly frustrated and angry at having to endure the long queues just to try to get onto each boat.
The locals actually called them 'punts' because these giant, flat-bottomed craft carried cars and trucks across the harbour 24-hours a day from 1916 until late 1971.
That's when the $6.5 million steel and concrete, high-arched Stockton Bridge spanning the Hunter River finally opened to traffic. In doing so, it immediately ended the long reign of the ageing vehicle ferries.
Yet, despite regular inconveniences, there was something exciting about travelling on the noisy, pulsating punts. It was a short road trip with a difference. Maybe it was the scent of tar, timber, hot oil, salt and coal smoke all mingling together in the air? It seemed to make a mundane journey a little bit exotic, accompanied by a long, trailing plume of black smoke and clanging bells.
Or maybe it was the uncertainty that the particular puffing and wheezy punt that motorists were travelling on was actually going to make it across the waterway this trip.
After all, all three DMR (Department of Main Roads) ferries were all ageing, all around 50 years of age back in 1971 when they were suddenly, forcibly retired.
And did I mention the whiff of danger each voyage? For when operating the coal-fired, steam-powered punts constantly vibrated, even shaking violently when going astern. Then there were the occasional minor collisions with the twin timber palisades in the water comprising the ferry docks.
Other people remembered the time a car on board suddenly slid backwards down the open flap at the punt's rear to disappear into the harbour. Or when a cyclist suffered the same fate on the punishing daily schedule of the punts.
Memories then came flooding back (pun intended) recently when John Henderson, of Warabrook, was a guest at Merewether Historical Society's monthly meeting speaking about the port's vehicle punts.
Henderson said, originally, Hunter farmers used rowboats to bring their produce down river to sell on Newcastle wharves.
Times were changing, and the port's first cross-harbour ferry, called Mildred, was introduced in 1916. It was the first vessel built at the now defunct Walsh Island (Kooragang) Dockyard and carried 15 cars and 70 passengers. It was named after the dockyard manager's wife.
Then came the larger punt, Kooroongaba. Built in 1921 for Sydney Ferries, it was transferred to work on Newcastle harbour after the Sydney Harbour Bridge was opened in the early 1930s.
It had a carrying capacity of up to 35 vehicles and 190 passengers. The 'Gaba' remained until the end of the vehicle ferry service in 1971.
Henderson said the now long vanished Newcastle ferry dock was diagonally opposite historic Argyle House (the former Fanny's Nightclub).
"Later, the Lurgurena became the third vessel to join the Newcastle vehicular ferry fleet. It was originally built in England in 1926 for use on Tasmania's Derwent River," he said.
"It began operation in 1946 as the replacement for the ageing Mildred, which was finally phased out. Then came the Koondooloo, the fourth and largest vessel to join the Newcastle fleet.
"Built in Scotland in 1924, again for Sydney Ferries, it took three months to sail out to Australia. Repurposed in World War II, it later underwent an extensive refit to work on Newcastle harbour.
"By 1970, the service carried 4000 vehicles every day. Long car queues on both sides of the harbour were common. When the (Hunter) river silted up in the 1955 flood, the vehicular ferries stopped for three months. Motorists wanting to go to Stockton or further north had to drive via Hexham. It was the only way," he said.
"There were also serious harbour collisions because of fog and tides. There was a need for a bridge instead of vehicle ferries, so the bridge finally opened on November 1, 1971.
"A lot of Newcastle people would remember the big farewell the ferries then had on that day the bridge opened. They lined the foreshores everywhere."
Henderson said the old, rusting DMR ferries were then quickly disposed of, being sold to a Perth scrap metal dealer Stuart White for $12,000.
The tug Polaris was soon hired to tow the three redundant punts on a risky 11,000 kilometre voyage to the Philippines. The old Sydney Queen showboat was then added to the long towline, to leave harbour on December 27, 1971.
"All the vessels were going to be towed in one hit. It was going to be a tricky operation," Henderson said.
Indeed, it was, with the first disaster occurring within the harbour. The Kooroongaba came adrift and floated onto rocks at Walsh Point. A second tow attempt then began on New Year's Day 1972. There were numerous problems, including the tug crew not speaking English. Then up the coast, near Crowdy Head, only 200 kilometres into the tow, the 'Gaba' sprung a leak and began sinking. The towline was cut.
A storm was also brewing so the remaining vessels limped into Trial Bay, near Kempsey, where they sadly ended up as wrecks on the beach, unable to be salvaged.
To deter souvenir hunters, ferry owner White facing bankruptcy set fire to the stranded vessels, allegedly saying: "If I can't have them, nobody's getting them."
Almost no trace of the vessels remain.
To end now, let's hear of some memories of those long-gone punt days from MHS stalwart and retired senior detective Geoff Wright.
"One story I remember is of a bloke on the vehicular ferry who decided to check the gun he was carrying. He ended up shooting himself in the foot. That story was never reported," Wright said.
"Another time there was a bloke up in the dock in court on a murder charge. The trouble was he had (concealed) a phial of poison in his tie.
"Anyway, I had to guard him up at the hospital afterwards. And you know what? The first thing he said to me when he finally woke up (from his coma) was: 'Has anyone dropped (jumped) off the new Stockton Bridge yet?'"
It was an odd question at the best of times, but why was suicide suddenly on his mind?
"I reckoned that as his Plan A for death had failed, he was looking at Plan B to succeed," Wright said chuckling.
