Western Port Ferries

The Swan

The Swan was one of about seven ketches and schooners which were based at Rhyll at different times from 1868 when the Island was subdivided for closer settlement until 1921 when the last one, the Stephen left for South Australia. These vessels...

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28 Jul 2020

Western Port Ferries

The Hilda Norling

Island vessels commandeered Ted Walton, a young boy living at Rhyll during the war years worked on the ferries that plied Westernport during that time. He remembered that the US and Australian authorities were after all the small boats they could...

25 Aug 2020

Western Port Ferries

Snippets - Ferries

The Trucanini It was in the 1880’s that Captain John Lock bought the Trucanini, a ketch of 45 tons, to Phillip Island, and in her was engaged up until a few days before his death in 1908 in the coastal trade between Westernport bay and Melbourne...

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28 Jul 2020

Western Port Ferries

The Ferries of Westernport

Phillip Island was first settled in 1868, and since that time until a bridge was built between Newhaven and San Remo in 1940, a series of steam ferries provided the only regular passenger and cargo service on Western Port. The early ferries ran...

Guest Admin

28 Jul 2020

Western Port Ferries

Ferries for Cowes Jetty

After the Cowes jetty was built in 1905, the first ferry, the Genista, began a daily service to the mainland, terminating at Stony Point. The ferry Genista was followed in 1925 by the larger Alvina, formerly the pilot ship at Port Phillip Heads...

28 Jul 2020

Western Port Ferries

Ferries: indelibly connected with Phillip Island.

Ferries have always been a part of Phillip Island history and folklore. Since the island’s earliest days, crowds have gathered to watch Westernport’s ferries come into the Cowes jetty, meet friends and family, and collect the mail and pick up...

28 Jul 2020