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Maritime Museum
Low Head Maritime Museum
The Low Head Maritime Museum is located in the historic Pilots’ Row, designed by John Lee Archer and situated at the Low Head Pilot Station, Low Head, Tasmania. The Parks and Wildlife Division of the Department of Primary Industry Water and the Environment is responsible for the Station.
The Museum was founded by employees of the Port of Launceston Authority. They were Wayne Shipp, Nigel Haynes, Ian McLaren and Andre Gorjup.
Pilots’ Row
The museum is located in the historic convict built, John Lee Archer designed Pilots’ Row.
John Lee Archer, an Irish architect trained in London, served as Van Diemen’s Land Architect and Civil Engineer for eleven years. He was also responsible for the first Low Head lighthouse.
Pilots’ Row was built in 1835 as a terrace of four four-roomed cottages to house the Pilots.
Built of local stone with some imported sandstone it’s original roof was clad in wooden shingles and had two gables.
Admission
Opening Hours: 10am until 4pm daily except Xmas day.
Adults: $5.00
Concession: $4.00
Children: $3.00
Family: $15.00
Tour Buses: $3.00 and $4.00 with Light Station & Fog Horn Tour
School Tours: $1.00 Primary $2.00 Secondary
Historical Attractions Pass:
Entry into the Low Head Maritime Museum, Bass and Flinders Centre and the Watch House Museum in George Town.
Adults: $13.00
Family: $40.00
Room 1 - Entrance: History Room
The displays on the wall tell of the history of the pilot station. This is the oldest pilot station in Australia. Pilots were operating on the Tamar in 1805 and the station was established at Low Head in 1806.
The map of the Tamar shows clearly the navigation channel. Although the river is quite wide, the navigation channel is narrow and winds from shore to shore. The channel is quite dangerous, containing reefs and rocks. In addition, the current is quite strong. From the start, pilots were needed to guide ships past the dangers in the river.
Room 2 - Whaling & Sealing Room
In the 1830s whaling was a very important industry for Launceston. There were not many whales in Bass Strait. The winter migration is up both sides of Tasmania, with some heading north into Queensland, while others head northwest past Western Victoria and South Australia into the Bight. The Launceston based whalers established whaling stations on the West Coast of Victoria and on Kangaroo Island. This led to the first settlement of Victoria, at Portland and Port Fairy, before the founding of Melbourne.
Note the harpoon and killing lance on one wall, and the try pot for boiling down the blubber.
This room also has small displays on the marine life of Low Head and of the wreck of the Iron Baron in July 1995. Bunker oil from this ore carrier got among the penguin colony, resulting in a massive rescue and clean-up operation.
Room 3 - Pilotage Room
This room shows how the pilot was taken out to the ship by whaleboat, and had to climb up the ladder onto the ship. It also explains the Plimsoll line, introduced to prevent the overloading of ships. The different lines represent different seasons, and freshwater as well as sea. This is because the density of water changes and a ship will float higher or lower depending on this.
Room 4 - Diving Room
In this room is the diving suit together with the compressor for pumping air down into the suit. Note the weights and heavy boots to make sure that the diver can stay down and not drift off with the current.
The room also contains a line launching rocket and breeches buoy. There is a good diagram on the wall that explains it all.
Room 5 - Navigation Room
This room contains barometers, sextants, and instruments for accurately marking the course on a chart. A sextant was used for measuring latitude and bearings from landmarks. The chart more clearly shows the navigation channel and the lead past Hebe Reef into the Tamar River. The lead is marked by the leading lights, the two white towers near Ainslie hospital. When these towers were lined up, the ship was in the channel into the river.
Room 6—Ponrabbel Room
Much of the equipment in this room came from the Ponrabbel II, a dredge that operated in the Tamar River from the 1920s until the 1960s. The Launceston Marine Board was determined that ships should berth close to the city centre. Attempts to move the port further downstream were stoutly resisted. The Ponrabbel II was used to dredge the channel. The model shows how it operated.
There is also a good picture of the Loongana, launched in 1904. It was the first of the fast ferries across Bass Strait. Until the advent of the roll-on-roll-off car ferries in 1959, passenger ships across Bass Strait left from Launceston. The wharf was at the bottom of Charles Street. When the tide was out, the Loongana had to sail early and anchor at Rosevears, and a tender transferred passengers arriving close to the scheduled sailing time to the Loongana. Eventually Kings Wharf was built to overcome the problem.
Room 7 - Shipwrecks Room
This room contains artefacts salvaged from shipwrecks. Much of it is from the barque Asterope, which was wrecked on the Hebe Reef in the 1880s. The photos and telegrams tell the story of the Eden Holme, the last of the wool clippers to Tasmania, wrecked on Hebe Reef in 1907. Artifacts from the wreck include a spider band and meat serving platter.
Room 8 - Signaling & Lights Room
In this room is a collection of river lights, signaling lanterns, ships’ navigation lights, and signal flags. Note the display board about Kathleen Cashion. The lights can be operated by pressing the button on the display case. In the corner is the engine room bell from the Port Launceston, which regularly traded between Europe and the Australian ports in the 1950s and 60s.
Room 9 - Telegraph Room
The model is of the semaphore mast used to send messages to Launceston between 1835-1858 is in this room. Also there is information on the electric telegraph that operated from this room in 1859-1861. Note the display of submarine telegraph and telephone cables 1859-1936. Try your hand at Morse code with the key on the stand.
Room 10—Sir Raymond Ferrall Exhibition Room
Currently in this room is an exhibition on the boat builders of the Tamar River. This was an important industry that still continues.
Room 11 - Rigging Room
This room displays how the ship was rigged. Different ropes were used for stabilizing the mast, climbing up the mast, raising and lowering the boom and raising and lowering sails. Above people's heads is a sea anchor. It operated in water on the same principle as a parachute. Note the knot board behind the door made by Bogdan Kolodziej and Helmet Schwabe. Note the working cannon still used for ceremonial occasions.
Room 12 - Low Head Room
The photographs on the wall are about holidays at Low Head. The artifacts in the case are objects, which have been found around Low Head. One of the shackles is from an escapee; the seal has not been broken. The shackle has been bashed into an oval shape so the prisoner could get his heel through the gap.
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