Australian Wooden Boat Festival celebrates maritime craftsmanship and Pacific traditions in Hobart

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Australian Wooden Boat Festival has concluded after four days on Hobart’s waterfront, celebrating maritime craftsmanship and history. This year’s event showcased the rich seafaring traditions of the Pacific Islands and New Zealand.

Transcript

00:00So that was the very first one he sailed to Rotonga.

00:05Michael Taffrey's sharing the colourful seafaring history of his ancestors with Ilpeti

00:10Rubbings.

00:11The double hull canoe is called a waka houroa.

00:14It's been empowering.

00:15We're sharing the same sea, sharing the same stars and we're talking about the same language.

00:20So it's nice to sort of bounce those familiarities.

00:24There's a distinct New Zealand and Pacific Island flavour to this year's Australian Wooden

00:29Boat Festival, including traditional boats and exhibits showcasing how birds, clouds

00:34and the stars once helped navigate the seas.

00:38So we knew there was a significant land mass here because the birds told us so.

00:42In New Zealand it's very common to know all about the Polynesian history and how the Pacific

00:48was populated with humans, but here it's a very unknown story.

00:53A partnership with the Auckland Wooden Boat Festival has helped bring boats over from

00:57across the ditch, including the recently restored Nataki.

01:01We tried to do a restoration as original as possible.

01:07This boat raced across the Tasman in 1934.

01:11They were hoping for more boats, but the only two that ended up on the start line was Nataki

01:16and Tivapanga.

01:19The latter now resides in Hobart and their reunion was celebrated this weekend with a

01:24race on the Derwent.

01:25The Wooden Boat Festival wraps up today.

01:28Around 60,000 people have visited over four days, making it Tasmania's largest free event.

01:34Organisers say around half of those people are from outside of Tasmania.

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