Steve Melissakis has made the difficult decision to sell his barge which has a long and interesting history with many different roles.
It has been moored in Lakes Entrance for many years, recognised as a popular place to purchase fresh prawns and other seafood, but is now in dry dock at Gippsland Ports facility on Bullock Island.
The wooden hull of the vessel was built in the latter part of the 19th century as a floating pier on the Yarra River.
The barge also had a career from 1920 in Echuca plying its way up and down the Murray River loaded with wool bales.
In 1928 the hull was moved to Paynesville and converted to a suction dredge.
It dredged the Gippsland Lakes and was manoeuvred by a system of anchors and steam driven winches.
“A large pump was needed to keep the entrance at Lakes Entrance clear and the pump and engine were fitted,” Steve said.
“It was named the Paynesville dredge and got busy dredging the sand bar at the entrance. This is how Bullock Island was built from the sand deposits clearing the bar.”
Steve states that now 100 people work on Bullock Island because of that barge.
“It weighs 100 ton and is lined with red gum wood and Canadian Oregon, the timber has been protected by using plaster on the outside,” he said.
“It is very hard to get 120 year old timber and I would be prepared to sell the timber to a wood enthusiast who has a good purpose for it,”
Expressions of interest are now open for this historical piece of history.
