SHIP BACK IN BATTLE
WAR OF WORDS BREAKS OUT OVER WW2 VESSEL
A WAR has erupted with the council over the transfer of a World War II army hospital vessel from a northern Gold Coast heritage park to a Tweed servo.
The AH Krawarree, which served in Papua New Guinea, is to be relocated from Pimpama to a Shell service station at Chinderah, south of the Tweed River.
Brunswick Heads maritime experts fear the boat will become another roadside playground for kids and never be restored so it can return to the water.
However the project committee responsible promise it will be properly fenced off, and hope to get it back in the water for future Anzac Day celebrations.
NSW College of Marine Studies Maritime Trainers and Assessors chairman Phil Walters said he understood the vessel needed to be removed so the site could be redeveloped as a sport and leisure centre, but questioned the cost to Australia’s maritime history.
“The vessel commands respect in that it is Australia’s heritage-listed last remaining World War II sea ambulance,” Mr Walters wrote in a letter to Gold Coast City Council CEO Dale Dickson.
The Krawarree was in fragile condition, a pest inspection had found termites and its new home at Chinderah was not zoned by the Tweed Council to allow boat restoration, he said.
The 24m ambulance carrier craft is the last of five boats, built from Huon pine logs from the Franklin River in Tasmania, used to evacuate casualties to awaiting hospital ships during the war.
The boat could carry 33 stretchers and had an emergency operating table below deck. It carried a doctor and two nurses, with 12 crew.
Because of its shallow draft it had been able to navigate small rivers.
“Transport of the vessel is a major logistical undertaking,” Mr Walters wrote of the plan to shift it.
“Major works would need to be carried out to reduce the superstructure and deck of the vessel to comply with the legal height for road transport.”
The council was told COMS MTA had obtained an offer in writing from a major boat building company in the Coomera marine precinct that was prepared to house the vessel free of charge so it could be restored.
“I have been told by members of the successful entity that the entity plans to turn the vessel into a static display/coffee shop at the Chinderah site, with people able to climb all over it like a kids’ play area at McDonald’s,” Mr Walters wrote.
In a second complaint written to the CEO’s office late last month, Mr Walters warned the boat would become a “ruined hulk” because the service station site was not zoned as a marine precinct.
He argued that if the process was in reverse and the boat was to be moved across the border to a Gold Coast service station, the council would have stopped and possibly fined the owners.
“Why is it OK to allow for Krawarree to be dumped in NSW?” he wrote.
But a council officer said in June the relocation plan by COMS was not successful because the location had not been secured and the city would have an ongoing rental cost of $20,000 annually.
“I do hope the College of Marine Studies will still be able to be a part of the Krawarree’s future by working with the supported group who aim to restore the boat to its original state at Chinderah,” the officer wrote.
The successful applicants are headed by Gold Coast businessman and Tweed identity Kelvin Gersbach, who formed a project committee with fellow businessman Chris Morrissey and former Navy sea captain Bob Modystack said their aim was to restore the vessel.
Mr Gersbach said the boat was being vandalised in the park. “It is going to the Shell service station at Chinderah. It will be fenced off and made water ready,” Mr Gersbach said.
“Our long term hope on Anzac Day one year it will be out off the beach at Currumbin and Tweed. We are looking for fundraising opportunities from anyone who is interested.”
A council spokesman said yesterday the vessel had to be relocated so the council could start development of the Northern Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre on the site at Heritage Park, in Rifle Range Rd.
“This is consistent with the advice provided to the owners when the vessel was first located on site in 2011,” the spokesman said.
“The owners of land at Chinderah Bay Drive, Chinderah, have provided written consent for the vessel to be relocated to their property.”
The successful applicants were arranging specialised transport equipment to relocate the boat, which could occur within the next four weeks.
IT COMMANDS RESPECT. IT IS AUSTRALIA’S HERITAGE-LISTED LAST REMAINING WORLD WAR II SEA AMBULANCE PHIL WALTERS