 Lady Northcott at Circular Quay in July 2013 | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Builders | |
| Operators | |
| Completed | 7 |
| Active | 3 |
| Laid up | 1 |
| Scrapped | 3 |
| General characteristics | |
The Lady class is a class of ferry that were operated by Harbour City Ferries and its predecessors on Sydney Harbour. The term 'Lady class' was also used to describe four wooden-hulled double-ended ferries that were operated on Sydney Harbour, from the 1910s to the early 1970s.
In late 1967, the Sydney Harbour Transport Board placed an order for three ferries with the State Dockyard, Newcastle. Continuing the tradition of naming ferries after the wives of the Governors of New South Wales, Lady Cutler was launched on 10 August 1968 and arrived in Sydney on 19 September 1968. [1] [2] [3]
It was followed in 1970 by Lady Woodward and Lady McKell. [4] These two differed from Lady Cutler in having reverse sloped wheelhouses. [1]
In 1974/75, two enlarged versions were built by Carrington Slipways, Lady Wakehurst and Lady Northcott. These were followed in 1979 by Lady Street and Lady Herron that were built at the State Dockyard. [1] [3] [5] [6]
Following a fire that gutted the South Steyne in August 1974, the Lady Wakehurst and Lady Northcott were pressed into on the Manly service after having their bows built up to contend with the rougher conditions while crossing Sydney Heads and extra gangway openings cut into the upper deck. Following the Tasman Bridge disaster, Lady Wakehurst was sent to Hobart in January 1975 to operate services on the River Derwent, not returning until November 1977. [3] [6] [7]
In the 1990s, the first three were withdrawn and placed in store at Rozelle Bay. A deal to sell them to Hong Kong fell through. Today, Lady Cutler and Lady McKell operate as cruise vessels on Port Phillip, the latter having had one wheelhouse removed and renamed Victoria Star. [2] [8] Lady Woodward was sold to Tasmania and converted for use as a salmon farm tender vessel. In 2010, it was sold to a citizen of Tin Can Bay for use as a houseboat. [9]
Lady Wakehurst was sold to Auckland in 1997, before returning to Sydney in 2001. It briefly returned to the Manly run in 2006 when chartered by Sydney Ferries. It moved to the Solomon Islands in 2011. [7] Lady Street was withdrawn in October 2002. [10] and was sold in December 2004 to be broken up with her scrapping being completed at Goat Island in 2007
Lady Northcott and Lady Herron were removed from service in October 2017. [11] In 2020 Lady Northcott was donated to Aboriginal Cruise company Tribal Warrior and sailed from Newcastle to Sydney, on the 26th of September 2022, under her own power after works were completed to get her back into service. After returning to Sydney the Lady Northcott was painted in a full black Livery with traditional aboriginal art decorating the superstructure. Other parts of the vessel including the funnel and masts are still in the Sydney Ferries cream colour and have yet to be repainted. Since its repaint the Lady Northcott has operated harbour cruises for events such as New Year's and Vivid. On the 25th of January the Lady Northcott was given a second name that being "Wirawi" the aboriginal word for woman. The rename was accompanied by traditional aboriginal ceremonies and celebrations.
In May 2023 after being stored in Tin Can Bay for around 12 years the Lady Woodward was scrapped.[ citation needed ]
Lady Herron was cut up for scrap between April and May 2024.[ citation needed ]
| Name | Image | MMSI | Date launched | Namesake | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lady Cutler |  | 503334800 | 10 August 1968 | Helen Cutler | Active, Port Phillip [12] |
| Lady Woodward |  | 7027813 | 19 October 1970 | Eric Woodward | Scrapped in May 2023[ citation needed ] |
| Lady McKell |  | 7029122 | 19 October 1970 | William McKell | Renamed Victoria Star, active Port Phillip [13] |
| Lady Wakehurst |  | 7343449 | 6 July 1974 | John Wakehurst | Laid up in Avi Avi Marina Solomon Islands.[ citation needed ] |
| Lady Northcott |  | 503602000 | 26 September 1974 | John Northcott | Withdrawn from Sydney ferries fleet in October 2017. Donated to the Aboriginal cruise company Tribal Warrior and was converted to a cruise vessel.. [14] |
| Lady Street |  | 7810806 | 8 May 1979 | Laurence Street | Withdrawn October 2002. [10] [15] Scrapped at Goat Island, Sydney in 2007.[ citation needed ] |
| Lady Herron |  | 503601000 | 23 August 1979 | Leslie Herron | Withdrawn October 2017, Harbour City Ferries [16] Scrapped in May 2024.[ citation needed ] |
Sydney Ferries is the public transport ferry network serving the city of Sydney, New South Wales. Services operate on Sydney Harbour and the connecting Parramatta River. The network is controlled by the New South Wales Government's transport authority, Transport for NSW, and is part of the authority's Opal ticketing system. In 2017–18, 15.3 million passenger journeys were made on the network.
The Urban Transit Authority, a former statutory authority of the Government of New South Wales, was responsible for the operation and maintenance of buses and ferries in Sydney and Newcastle from July 1980 until January 1989.
Manly ferry services operate on Sydney Harbour connecting the Sydney suburb of Manly with Circular Quay in the CBD, a journey of seven nautical miles.
The State Dockyard was a ship building and maintenance facility operated by the Government of New South Wales in Carrington, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia between 1942 and 1987.
The SS South Steyne is a former Manly ferry on Sydney Harbour. She was the world's largest steam-powered passenger ferry and operated on the service from 1938 to 1974. Restored in the 1980s, she served as a restaurant ship in Newcastle in the 1990s, and in 2000 was moved back to Sydney and open to the public at Darling Harbour. Since April 2016 she has been stored at Berrys Bay. She was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
MV Lady Cutler was a Lady-class ferry on Sydney Harbour services for 22 years. Retired from Sydney ferry service in 1991, she has since been refurbished and now operates tours on Port Phillip, Melbourne.
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MV Baragoola was a ferry formerly operated by the Port Jackson & Manly Steamship Company and its successors on the Manly service.
Forgacs Shipyard is a shipbuilding company located at Tomago, New South Wales on the Hunter River. It was originally opened in 1957 by John Laverick at Carrington as Carrington Slipways, and built 45 ships between then and 1968. By 1972, the business required larger premises and moved to Tomago, not far from the Pacific Highway. The shipyard was purchased by Forgacs Engineering in 1997.
Captain Cook Cruises is an Australian cruise operator. As of January 2018, the company operated 21 vessels on Sydney Harbour, providing a range of Government contracted and non-contracted Ferry services, Sightseeing, Dining and Charter Cruises.
Manly Fast Ferry is an Australian ferry operator that services the areas of Botany Bay and Port Jackson.
The Sydney hydrofoils were a series of hydrofoils operated by Port Jackson & Manly Steamship Company and its successors on the ferry service from Circular Quay to Manly.
The Sydney JetCats were a class of catamarans operated by the State Transit Authority and Sydney Ferries Corporation on the Manly service.
The MV North Head was a ferry operated by the Port Jackson & Manly Steamship Company and its successors on the Manly service from 1913 until 1985.
Bellubera was a ferry operated by the Port Jackson & Manly Steamship Company on the Manly service. Launched in 1910, she was the third of six "Binngarra-type" vessels. Upon her 1936 conversion from steam power, she became the first diesel-electric vessel in Australia. She was decommissioned in 1973, and scuttled at sea in 1980.
Lady Denman is a former Sydney Harbour ferry built in 1912 for the Balmain New Ferry Company. She was later run by Sydney Ferries Limited and its government successors. She is now preserved at the Jervis Bay Maritime Museum near her original build site in Huskisson, New South Wales, Australia.
The Freshwater class is a class of ferry operating the Manly ferry service between Circular Quay and Manly on Sydney Harbour. The ferries are owned by the Government of New South Wales and operated by the franchisee Transdev Sydney Ferries under the government's Sydney Ferries brand.
SS Kuring-gai was a ferry that served on the Sydney to Manly run from 1901 to 1928.
Lady Scott, later John Cadman and Harbour Queen, was a Sydney Harbour ferry built in 1914 for the Balmain New Ferry Company. She and four similar ferries, Lady Chelmsford (1910), Lady Denman (1912), Lady Edeline (1913), and Lady Ferguson (1914), were a new series of "Lady-class", designed by renowned naval architect, Walter Reeks.
Sydney Harbour ferry services date back to the first years of Sydney's European settlement. Slow and sporadic boats ran along the Parramatta River from Sydney to Parramatta and served the agricultural settlements in between. By the mid-1830s, speculative ventures established regular services. From the late-nineteenth century the North Shore developed rapidly. A rail connection to Milsons Point took alighting ferry passengers up the North Shore line to Hornsby, New South Wales via North Sydney. Without a bridge connection, increasingly large fleets of steamers serviced the cross harbour routes and in the early twentieth century, Sydney Ferries Limited was the largest ferry operator in the world.
Media related to Lady ferry class at Wikimedia Commons