This was the 60 year old work boat known as the Crane Lighter 'Poolya', up on stumps, waiting forlornly at Glebe Island Wharf.
Starting my canvas of
"The 'Poolya' at Glebe Island waiting to be broken up"
2013 oil on canvas 31 x 61cm
Enquiries about this painting
Despite being added to the State’s Heritage Register in March 2009 by the then Ports and Waterways Minister Joe Tripodi, here the “Poolya” is waiting to be broken up.
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Starting my canvas of "The 'Poolya' at Glebe Island waiting to be broken up" 2013 oil on canvas 31 x 61cm |
The 'Poolya', formerly known as the 'Kahibah', was built in 1949.
For a long time she was based at Goat Island.
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Starting my canvas of "The 'Poolya' at Glebe Island waiting to be broken up" 2013 oil on canvas 31 x 61cm Enquiries about this painting |
She was one of the vessels deployed to recover oil with her brush skimmer from the notorious 'Laura d'Amato' spill at Gore Cove on Wednesday 4th August 1999.
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Half finished canvas of "The 'Poolya' at Glebe Island waiting to be broken up" 2013 oil on canvas 31 x 61cm Enquiries about this painting |
I had been painting the renovation of the Walsh Bay Fingerwharves at the time of the Laura d'Amato incident. The smell of the spilt oil was utterly indescribable! I couldn't cope with the fumes and it was one of the few times that I had to go home without finishing my painting. I don't know how the men on board managed to handle it.
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Half finished canvas of "The 'Poolya' at Glebe Island waiting to be broken up" 2013 oil on canvas 31 x 61cm Enquiries about this painting |
Until 2012 the 'Poolya' was on standby at Moore's Wharf.
When she was taken out of service with Sydney Ports Corporation the 'Poolya' was then given to the Sydney Heritage Fleet, who had originally intended to preserve her.
However the "Poolya" is a timber vessel, and all timber vessels are a lot of work. Eventually they get to the stage of requiring significant repair to keep them serviceable. This can rapidly spiral out of control. The 'Poolya', despite being regarded with great affection by the workers from Sydney Ports and the Sydney Heritage Fleet, had become commercially uneconomic.
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| Half finished canvas of "The 'Poolya' at Glebe Island waiting to be broken up" 2013 oil on canvas 31 x 61cm Enquiries about this painting |
Sydney Ports Corporation have replaced her with a steel hulled vessel of a similar design concept, the 'Manns Point'.
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I was given the heads up by a couple of people at Sydney Ports who had a sentimental attachment to the 'Poolya'.
I arrived at the Glebe Island Operations Centre on Monday about noon and had this medium size canvas finished by the time the blokes wanted to knock off at 5.30pm.
I had painted a couple of small canvases of the 'Poolya' in her glory days while she was still operational. A few of these were painted from my loft on the top floor of Sydney Ports Corporation's Emergency Response Headquarters at Moore's Wharf. These canvases usually have a spectacular view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge as well as the historic workboat.
Some of my paintings were in the "tondo" format. A tondo is a canvas stretched over a round or oval stretcher frame.
Some of the Sydney Ports Corporation wharfies would jokingly ask me "When will you be painting another pizza, Jane ?"
When the 'Poolya' was broken up, a couple of contractors managed to souvenir the portholes.
So these 2 'Poolya' tondos ended up being framed behind these portholes and are now cherished trophies in some canny collector's living room.
I arrived at the Glebe Island Operations Centre on Monday about noon and had this medium size canvas finished by the time the blokes wanted to knock off at 5.30pm.
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'Poolya' from Moore's Wharf' 2013 oil on canvas 12 x 12cm Enquiries about similar paintings Sold PRIVATE COLLECTION : SYDNEY |
Some of my paintings were in the "tondo" format. A tondo is a canvas stretched over a round or oval stretcher frame.
Some of the Sydney Ports Corporation wharfies would jokingly ask me "When will you be painting another pizza, Jane ?"
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| 'Poolya' from Moore's Wharf' 2013 oil on canvas 31 x 31cm SOLD PRIVATE COLLECTION : SYDNEY Enquiries about similar paintings |
So these 2 'Poolya' tondos ended up being framed behind these portholes and are now cherished trophies in some canny collector's living room.
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