Cartela left Brooke St Pier on Thursday, June 26, 2014 and arrived in Port Huon that day, where she waited for a high enough tide to navigate upriver to Franklin.
The Huon News reported:
“When Cartela returns to Hobart in about four years’ time after a major restoration project at Franklin, she will be steam powered and will once again work carrying passengers…as a fully restored steamship.”
There was strong optimism about a four-year, $4 million restoration of the ferry in late 2014.
Steamship Cartela Trust member Jude Franks said the aim was to build a ship-lift to remove her from the water for restoration.
The fact that the location was within the Huon Estuary Marine Conservation Area was not fully factored into the original plan, and that later proved to be a major complication.
By 2017, with no progress on getting the vessel out of the water at Franklin, the Trust adopted a different approach modelled on the restoration of the 1904 tall ship Alma Doepel, which was floated on to a purpose-built submersible barge and lifted from the water.
In December 2017, the SCT bought an old Sydney car ferry, Goliath, for $297,140 to use as a floating dry dock in a similar manner.
Project manager at the time, Ross James, told the ABC that Cartela was “in remarkably good shape”, with only five per cent of planking requiring replacement, and that the $5 million restoration project aimed to return her to the Derwent within four years.
The SCT says Goliath required far more expensive preparation work than anticipated and that a hoped-for buyer and some expected philanthropic funding did not materialise.
The plan was ultimately abandoned, and Goliath was sold in 2021-22 for $25,000, a loss of $272,140.
A May 23, 2021 ABC article said an old steam engine had been secured, but the plans to have Cartela on a dry dock for repair had become much more challenging.
“The trust is concerned time is running out – we are weighing up what needs to happen first, but 12 months would be too long,” Jude Franks said at the time.
“I think by that stage we would really be finding that we are losing that window of opportunity.”
On February 10, 2023, the State Government announced a $1 million grant for the Cartela project.
In the 2023-24 financial year, $112,000 had been drawn down for a feasibility study and regulatory approvals connected with taking the vessel to a slipway at Battery Point for restoration.
On February 13, 2025, approval for the Battery Point move was finalised and Cartela partially sank at the dock.
Meanwhile, Hobart City Council’s planning committee approved a development application for slipyard operations at Hunter’s Slipyard, Battery Point, on February 18.
The slipway was certified for 30 metre vessels and special approval had to be sought for the 38 metre Cartela and structural work on the slip itself.
On February 19, 2025, in response to a question about how long it would be until she was moved, the Trust said: “We are waiting on some external approvals before we can get started on re-floating her.
“Our working premise is we will have those approvals within days, rather than weeks. There will need to be quite a bit of work done before she can be moved to Battery Point, to both Cartela and some modifications to the slipway.”
Progress was then slowed by the bureaucracy involved in securing state government sign-off on repurposing existing grant funds for the salvage operation.
Cartela was eventually refloated on March 25 at a cost of more than $400,000.
The SCT said:
“We have most of the infrastructure ready for slipping and look forward to sharing that soon.
“Cartela is regularly checked and some leaks were patched recently by a dive team; this has lowered the pump cycle considerably.
“The Trust appreciates the concern of the community and hopes to have some more details soon.”
There was then no word from the Trust for over 12 months.
The Huon News made numerous attempts to contact the SCT, eventually succeeding in June 2026, receiving a written response to the questions posed.
Coincidentally, four days later on June 30, the Cartela Facebook page was updated with the news: “Cartela will be relocating to Hunter’s Slipyard at Battery Point in the near future, where a dedicated slipway is currently in its final stages of adaptation specifically for her restoration.”
It also stated that the Trust would keep everyone “better informed” with updates every Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.
The following day, July 1, Pulse Media reported Jude Franks speaking about the “new phase” in which the 1912 vessel would move from Franklin to Battery Point.
“For the first time since the refloating operation, we now have a clear and achievable pathway from stabilisation to restoration,” she said.
When the Huon News spoke to her the following day, Jude Franks referred to the imminent social media push and upcoming publicity campaign aimed at mining both stories and donations from generations of Tasmanians with connections to Cartela.
“We have started to be, as we’d always planned, a lot more active in telling the story of what’s happening next,” she said.
Watch this space.
