** APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN **
Little Blue Boat - Seeking Expressions of Interest
Could your organisation become the next custodian of a little piece of Southern Tasmanian history?
The Wooden Boat Centre is seeking expressions of interest from not-for-profit community organisations that are interested in becoming the next custodian of The Little Blue Boat or Sea Breeze as she is named. The Wooden Boat Centre recently celebrated her relaunch which was widely covered in local and national media: ABC News: Little Blue Boat
We now need to find an appropriate new home where its history can continue to be recognised and shared with the community. No need for a lengthy application. If your organisation is interested, we would simply like to know:
- a little about your organisation (your mission) and its connection to the local community;
- where the boat would be located;
- how you envisage using the boat;
- your ability to maintain the boat;
- how the community would benefit or continue to engage with its story; and
- whether your organisation would be able to arrange transport and provide for its ongoing care.
Preference will be given to proposals that maintain a connection with Southern Tasmania, particularly Montrose Bay, and provide an ongoing community benefit. Ownership will be transferred permanently for $1. A condition of ownership is that if the organisation is dissolved that the boat passes to a like-minded not for profit. It is not to be sold to a private enterprise.
Expression of interest
Expressions of interest can be sent to secretary@woodenboatcentre.com by 30th October 2026. They need only be brief, approximately 200–400 words are plenty.
Our goal is to finish her restoration in time for the Australian Wooden Boat Festival in February 2027 and hand her over to her new custodians at the event. If you would like further information about the Little Blue Boat, its history, dimensions or current condition before expressing interest, please get in touch.
If you have ever wanted to build a boat, work with timber, or learn a new trade, this is your chance to start - and to keep Tasmania’s boatbuilding heritage alive.