The Centre

The Wooden Boat Centre Tasmania is a school and visitor centre dedicated to preserving the traditional craft/trade of wooden boat building, and to stimulating and broadening public awareness and understanding of the craft.

The Wooden Boat Centre was initially established in 1990 as the Shipwright's Point School of Wooden Boatbuilding, to teach and preserve the skills of traditional wooden boatbuilding. It runs a fully nationally-accredited Certificate course which is the only one actively operating in Australia, probably the southern hemisphere, and possibly the world. Certainly it is the only school in the world in which the Certificate students undertake the construction of a full-sized, sea-going cruising vessel built in solid timber as their major learning project.

The Visitor Centre has interpretive displays presenting the history of wooden boats and boatbuilding in Tasmania, aspects of the techniques of wooden boatbuilding, some of the background of the school, timbers and tools used in boatbuilding, etc etc.

This centre incorporates viewing windows and bays from which visitors can observe the school's teachers and students at work at all stages of contruction, over time, of a variety of boats of different sizes and styles.

The adjacent Huon River foreshore has also been redeveloped, to provide public walkways, a wharf apron with picnic shelter and barbecue, and other amenities, as well as refurbishing a dinghy shed and completing the construction of a modest yacht marina. The whole facility has steadily grown to be a centre for the celebration of the traditional values around wooden boats, boating, the river and its life.

FOR SALE - 'Georgina' A restored pre-war 21' river launch. Huon pine, traditional carvel hull with king billy ceiling. 100% electric. See here for more details.