Newman Senior Technical College students and teachers are feeling buoyant after receiving a helping hand in securing the future of historic fishing vessel, XLCR.
Australian National Maritime Museum shipwright Jeff Hodgson visited the boat last week to assess the 107-year-old historic wooden fishing boat and prepare a vessel management plan to help preserve it for future generations
The assessment is part of the latest round of grants under the Maritime Museums of Australia Project Support Scheme (MMAPSS) for projects that preserve and promote Australia's maritime legacy.
Newman Senior Technical College marine studies teacher Warren Bridge said the in-kind support will provide them with advice and a plan of attack moving forward.
"We wanted to engage an expert in historical boats to get some advice about where to go forward with maintenance and future funding and all those things that move the vessel along," he said.
"We are quite proud that it is still a working vessel, and it's important that a boat of this age is kept in working order to continue providing those life lessons for future generations."
Mr Hodgson said his role is to check the overall condition of the boat to provide a report to the senior curator of historic vessels, David Payne.
"It's not a full survey, but we look at various aspects of the condition of the boat, what might need work in the future and how to plan for that," he said.
"Hopefully, we can also provide information on where the school can attract further funding from such as sponsorships to get the boat's condition over the line."
Mr Bridge said sponsorships will go a long way in preserving the boat as 100 per cent of the funding is currently from Newman College.
"It's quite an expensive program to keep the boat on the water all year round, the ongoing maintenance is huge," he said. "The students and I have been out on the boat a lot this month, it's a terrific asset for Newman College.
"The fact that we have a floating classroom where we can bring the students out on lessons is an ideal situation, and it's important to preserve the practicality of the boat for as long as we can to keep it out on the water where it belongs."
Newman Senior Technical College student Huon Lickley said the historic fishing vessel has added great value to their learning experience.
"We get to take it out a lot instead of just doing a normal class at school, which is pretty cool as no other school like this gets to do that," he said.
"We will learn about a whole bunch of stuff in class like safety and laws, and then we actually get to go out on the boat and experience what we learnt.
"Obviously, the boat has been around for over 100 years so it's got really good historical significance. It's definitely something that should be kept in good condition so other people can have the same experience as us."
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