The date was September 18th 1944. That was the day the Haldane brothers Bill, Alan and Hughie got the phone call from the stationmaster at Port Fairy. “Your logs have arrived,” he said.

Seven years of hard work was about to begin.

There were six logs in all. The longest was 70ft. The brothers had selected it for the keel from the Otway Ranges. It weighed eight tons. All up, the logs weighed 25 tons. There were no cranes at Port Fairy big enough to handle them. They constructed lifting frames and with pulley blocks and timber jinkers, they man handled the logs to their vacant house block on the banks of the Moyne River, where the boat was to be built.

Flash forward to today:

The Tacoma Preservation Society (TPS) is undertaking a complete restoration of the Motor Fishing Vessel (MFV) Tacoma. It is Australia’s first purpose built purse seine fishing boat. As a tuna clipper, it changed the course of pelagic fishing in Australia.

With the help of many volunteers and sponsors, this project commemorates the story of the pioneering fishing Haldane family from Port Fairy, the construction of one of the most historically significant vessels ever built in Australia and the impact this vessel made in the development of the tuna and prawn fishing industries in Port Lincoln in South Australia.