Robert ‘Bob’ Davies and Peter Ottesen onboard Bob’s hand-built speedboat Eleanor. Photo: James Coleman.
The Kingston Foreshore, for all its cafes and waterside walks and general attempt to be Canberra’s Darling Harbour, is missing something.
You’re not allowed to tie your own boat up there.
“There are the commercial spots, but then there are signs which say public mooring is not allowed, so all that area along the boardwalk is absolutely wasted,” Robert ‘Bob’ Davies says.
“The businesses I’m sure would love to have boats come alongside and have a cup of tea.”
Bob is a member of the Traditional Boat Squadron of Australia, which for the past few years has lobbied the National Capital Authority (NCA) and the ACT Government to allow more activation on the lake – specifically, more boats.
“Boats are a really important part of water. People on the shore love to see boats and boats love to go along shores.
“You’ll never see a man-made lake in a national capital anywhere in the world with less activity on it, and we know it’s all about heritage and this and that, but this lake is massive – it’s 10 kilometres long.
“There’s room for everybody.”
The Traditional Boat Squadron of Australia argue Lake Burley Griffin is underused. Photo: James Coleman.
We’ll be able to see a glimpse of what the squadron has in mind on 12 and 13 April, when about 30 boats will take to the lake for the 2025 Traditional Boatfest, as part of this year’s Canberra and Region Heritage Festival.
The festival was biennial, but organiser Peter Ottesen says they’ve decided to run it annually because people enjoyed the last one so much.
“In the club, we’ve got all sorts of boats, from rowing boats, sailing boats, steam boats, motor boats, some now powered by electric motors,” he says.
Peter’s hand-built rowing boat. Photo: James Coleman.
“There’s a lot of history and development of countries included in these boats because, if you think about it, it was boats that led to exploration, to defence of countries, to trade, to travel. It’s only in recent times it’s become more recreational. There are great things to celebrate.”
Around 30 boats are expected to take part in the festival, which launches at 8 am on the Saturday at Lotus Bay, followed by a public show of the boats from 12:30 pm. The Sunday will feature a “grand parade” across Lake Burley Griffin all the way to Kingston Harbour.
Paddle steamer Enterprise is moored off the Acton Peninsula. Photo: James Coleman.
A star of the show is always the National Museum of Australia’s ferry, Enterprise, thought to be the oldest paddle steamer in Australia, built in 1878 and currently moored off the Acton Peninsula.
Then there’s Bob’s speedboat, which he’s taking me out on today as a teaser, and which he built himself over six years and 2500 hours.
“I had days where I sat down and cried. I couldn’t do it.”
Bob grew up in Perth – around his family’s boats all the time. He moved to this side of the country to study at Jervis Bay and join the Navy, where he built his career.
But after three years dealing with fatalities and suicides related to those who served in Afghanistan, he developed PTSD and “went very quiet”.
“I wasn’t coping with anything, including this, for about three years.”
But he poured himself back into it, along with a “substantial bucket of money”, to get it finished in 2020.
The design is inspired by famous Italian speedboats like the Riva, and built off a set of plans by American company Glen-L Boat Designs.
Not all of the tech is period. Photo: James Coleman.
“I had planned to build a smaller boat similar to Peter’s rowboat and do something simpler and develop my hand skills, but then I saw this on a website in the States and thought, ‘oh yeah, that’s the dream boat’.”
Many of the parts are sourced from either Britain or Italy, while the wood is all Australian, and there’s a lot of that.
“The Riva version of this would set you back about $700,000 US dollars, so I got a bargain. I love it.”
The speedboat gets its name from the mum of a friend who died in an Air Force crash in 1993. Photo: James Coleman.
It rates as a special-interest vessel under the permit he’s required to have from the NCA. There’s then a code of conduct to adhere to, which can be a bit of a struggle on a boat designed to max out at more than 50 knots (92 km/h, to save you Googling).
“But it won’t get there because it starts to take off and I get scared,” he says.
Besides, for Bob, driving a boat is more about relaxing. Hence the champagne bucket, with its own custom wooden stand, perched in the middle. Rest assured, I’m meant to be working and he’s meant to be driving, so it went unused on this occasion.
We didn’t use it okay. Photo: James Coleman.
“I’ve done a few anniversary cruises and stuff like that, but I don’t take any money. If people are really keen to give something, I tell them to donate something to a veterans charity.”
We arrive back in Lotus Bay, a little peppered by water spray, but overall, with a feeling like we’ve been in a day spa. Bring on more of this.
Visit the Traditional Boat Squadron of Australia for more information.
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