Head on over to the Hobart Function & Conference Centre for a series of book launches, presentations, and readings by notable authors specialising in maritime literature.
Dates & Times: Saturday 11 to Sunday 12 February. Various times, please see the schedule below.
Price: Free
Location: Hobart Function & Conference Centre, 1 Elizabeth St Pier (entrance is located on port side towards the end of the pier). Please follow the signage.
| Author | Activity | Day | Start | Finish |
| Alan Williams | Presents 'A Quirky History' | Saturday | 1000 | 1100 |
| Brian Stafford | Presents 'The Great Windships - How Sailing Ships Made the Modern World' | Saturday | 1115 | 1215 |
| Christiaan De Beukelaer | Australian launch of 'Trade Winds: A Voyage to a Sustainable Future for Shipping' | Saturday | 1230 | 1330 |
| Ian Smith | Launch 'The 18-Footer Britannia: 100 Years of a Sydney Icon' | Saturday | 1345 | 1445 |
| Graeme Broxham and Nicole Mays | Launch 'Those That Survive: Tasmania's Vintage and Veteran Recreational Vessels' and 'Those That Survive: Tasmania's Vintage and Veteran Commercial and Government Vessels' | Saturday | 1500 | 1600 |
| Author | Activity | Day | Start | Finish |
| Alan Williams | Presents 'A Quirky History' | Sunday | 1000 | 1100 |
| Brian Stafford | Presents 'The Great Windships - How Sailing Ships Made the Modern World' | Sunday | 1115 | 1215 |
| Christiaan De Beukelaer | Australian launch of 'Trade Winds: A Voyage to a Sustainable Future for Shipping' | Sunday | 1245 | 1345 |
| Graeme Broxham and Nicole Mays | Launch 'Those That Survive: Tasmania's Vintage and Veteran Recreational Vessels' and 'Those That Survive: Tasmania's Vintage and Veteran Commercial and Government Vessels' | Sunday | 1400 | 1500 |
Meet the Authors
Alan Williams presents 'A Quirky History'.
The history of quirky history behind Quirky History.
This book takes a humourous look at some interesting stories from history that may amuse readers. All 25 stories are illustrated with cartoons and many are based on articles Alan has written for Afloat Magazine over the last 11 years. Stories range from Henry V’s amazing logistics in invading France in 1415 right through to little known incidents in WW2. Where else would you read about the SAS using explosive camel droppings around Rommel’s camp in North Africa or a German U boat being captured by the camel Corps?
History is about people; in his writings, Alan looks at some of the interesting characters from the past and how their personalities affected history.
Brian Stafford presents 'The Great Windships - How Sailing Ships Made the Modern World'.
The book covers 500 years of merchant sailing ship history and development. It spans the period from Admiral Zheng He’s fantastic voyages of discovery in Asia and the venturing of the fragile caravels that first braved the Atlantic, to the exploits of the mighty windjammers of the late nineteenth century.
Along the way it examines how the various trades in which sailing ships became vital elements and how they influenced not only vessel design, but how they were managed at sea.
Along the routes they pioneered would travel all manner of goods in unheard of volumes - gold, silver, gems, spices, coffee, tea, and all sorts of other foodstuffs - as well as ideas, attitudes, religion and disease.
Besides their superior armament, the Western ships’ masters felt they were racially and religiously superior. Their vessels became instruments of colonial conquest, aiding the rise of the West over the much more populous East. They also facilitated the slave and the opium trades. For better or for worse, they made the modern world.
Christiaan De Beukelaer 'Trade Winds: A Voyage to a Sustainable Future for Shipping' - Australian Launch.
In 2020, Christiaan De Beukelaer spent 150 days covering 14,000 nautical miles aboard the schooner Avontuur, a hundred-year-old sailing vessel that transports cargo across the Atlantic Ocean. Embarking in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, he wanted to understand the realities of a little-known alternative to the shipping industry on which our global economy relies, and which contributes more carbon emissions than aviation. What started as a three-week stint of fieldwork aboard the ship turned into a five-month journey, as the COVID-19 pandemic forced all borders shut while crossing the ocean, preventing the crew from stepping ashore for months on end.
Trade Winds engagingly recounts De Beukelaer's life-changing personal odyssey and the complex journey the shipping industry is on to cut its carbon emissions. The Avontuur's mission remains crucial as ever: the shipping industry urgently needs to stop using fossil fuels, starting today. If we can't swiftly decarbonise shipping, we can't solve the climate crisis.
Christiaan De Beukelaer took up sailing to get away from his desk on weekends, which worked out well until he developed an interest in how to decarbonise the shipping industry. He works at the University of Melbourne and has held visiting positions at the Institute of Advanced Study at Durham and at the universities of Copenhagen, Jyväskylä, Cape Town, Hildesheim, and Coimbra. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
Ian Smith launches 'The 18-Footer Britannia- 100 Years of a Sydney Icon'.
The 18-footers of Sydney Harbour have been the dominant racing class for over a century, and Wee Georgie Robinson’s Britannia has been a big part of this community since 1919. Britannia raced hard for 23 seasons, then had a second life as a motor launch, then was restored for display at the Australian National Maritime Museum where she can still be seen. Author Ian Smith researched Britannia’s history for the Centenary in 2019 through newspapers, photographic collections and discussions with the Robinson family. His fascination with this boat led him to build an exact replica in 2002 which is on display here at the Festival in City Hall. After a long career in wooden boatbuilding and boatbuilding education Ian is endeavoring to get it all down in books and videos. He is also the author of The Open Boat- The Origin, Evolution and Construction of the Australian 18-Footer and Wooden Boatbuilding- The Sydney Wooden Boat School Manuals.
Graeme Broxam and Nicole Mays launch 'Those That Survive: Tasmania’s Vintage and Veteran Recreational Vessels' and 'Those That Survive: Tasmania’s Vintage and Veteran Commercial and Government Vessels'.
Those That Survive is a two volume work detailing some 750 surviving vessels of historical significance to Tasmania built before 1970. It covers a broad range of ships and boats that meet the criteria of being either built in, currently located in, or have spent a significant period of time in Tasmanian waters. These include small vessels such as dinghies up to seagoing sailing and motor ships. Entries generally include photographs, technical information and a brief history of each vessel. Those That Survive is an entirely reworked and expanded edition of a book first published in 1996.
Graeme Broxam
Graeme Broxam is a retired Commonwealth Public Servant with a background in science and intellectual property. He has been actively researching and publishing books on Australian maritime history since 1988 and founded Navarine Publishing in 1992. He is an active member of several nautically-associated organisations including the Wooden Boat Guild of Tasmania, Inc and Association of Heritage Boat Organisations, and has been responsible for the restoration of two important Tasmanian historic vessels, the yacht Clara (1892) and fishing yawl Casilda (1915).
Nicole Mays
Born and raised in Hobart, after completing a Bachelor of Science at the University of Tasmania, Nicole moved to Washington D.C., USA, where she worked for a scientific research and policy organisation on Capitol Hill for over a decade. In 2012, Nicole returned to Australia, establishing a home in Adelaide, South Australia, with her husband and two sons. With an interest in family history established in her teens, Nicole’s first book, published in 2011, was on her great-great-great grandfather Jacob Bayly Chandler who was a boat builder at Battery Point between 1847 and 1901. This book has been followed by six more titles, including Industrious, Innovative, Altruistic: The 20th Century Boat Builders of Battery Point; Little Boats with Sails: The History of Australia's 21 Foot Restricted Class; and Those That Survive: Tasmania's Vintage and Veteran Vessels. Nicole is also a part of Navarine Publishing and has published numerous articles in the Maritime Museum of Tasmania’s quarterly newsletter. In addition, Nicole serves as a committee member of the “Friends of Tassie Too” not-for-profit organisation and is the founder and administrator of the “Battery Point Boat and Ships” Facebook group.