Meet the Fleet – 01
Steam Yacht Lady Hopetoun (1902)
Lady Hopetoun at Goat Island in the 1960s, near the end of her working life with the Maritime Services Board. Photograph: City of Sydney
Sydney’s former VIP and Vice-regal steam yacht, Lady Hopetoun has probably carried more famous people on her decks than any other vessel in Australia.
Among them, King George VI as Duke of York, the Duke of Windsor, the Duke of Gloucester, the King and Queen of Thailand, Princess Alexandra; Governors General of Australia, Governors and Premiers of New South Wales; and many other world figures, including the first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong.
The life of Lady Hopetoun has not always been so glamorous. In her early years she was used as a relief pay boat, did small towing jobs and took the children who lived on Fort Denison to school each day. Originally moored in Lavender Bay, Lady Hopetoun moved to Goat Island in 1919 and this was her permanent berth until she was retired in the early 1960s and replaced by a new diesel launch Captain Phillip, built at a cost of $190,000.
Lady Hopetoun was built in 1902 under instructions from Mr R. Nickson, first president of the Sydney Harbour Trust, later to become the Maritime Services Board, now NSW Maritime. She was designed by Walter Reeks and built by Watty Ford in Berry’s Bay, North Sydney at a cost of £4,500. She is named after the wife of Lord Hopetoun, Australia’s first Governor General.
Lady Hopetoun was purchased by the fledgling Lady Hopetoun & Port Jackson Marine Steam Museum (the original name of the SHF) from the Maritime Services Board in 1966 to prevent her being sold for scrap. She underwent a major restoration and was recommissioned in 1970 just in time for the Captain Cook bi-centenary celebrations.
Lady Hopetoun still steams regularly and is the flagship of Sydney Heritage Fleet.
/ Lady Hopetoun
Length: 21.7 metres
Beam: 4.2 metres
Coal-fired steamer
Lady Hopetoun on handover day in 1966 to the fledgling Lady Hopetoun & Port Jackson Marine Steam Museum. In the bow, on left, the President of the Maritime Services Board, Mr Bill Brotherson, with the first President of the new Museum, Captain Freddie Stovin-Bradford.
New Year’s Eve; Lady Hopetoun has a Sydney Harbour box seat for the fireworks. She is a regular for the New Year festivities.
A windy day on Lady Hopetoun