Posted on Aug 22, 2017
Andrew Boyd. Andrew arrived in Australia as a child migrant in 1954.
He was apprenticed at Pilkington’s as a machinist and went on to work at International Harvester and Ford.
The newly arrived Boyd family lived at the Norlane Hostel for six months and were then allocated a Housing Commission home — a dream outcome for a Scottish shipyard worker like Andrew’s father.
Andrew spoke to his collection of model ships.
Each is pond-worthy and can be controlled by radio control.
All are battery-electric except one which has a working model steam engine.
Twice annually he gathers with other enthusiast model ship builders at Lake Goldsmith in Western Victoria. Here he allows children to sail his models.
Andrew exhibited about ten models to the Club and he explained the history of each model, the construction techniques employed and the history of the vessels on which they were modelled
WYUNA — the pilot boat for the Port Phillip Pilots Association Built at Glasgow in 1953.
Andrews father actually worked on the ship there and was surprised to find it in Melbourne.
It was phased out during the 1970s and passed on first to the Australian Maritime College in Tasmania.
It has since been passed on to the Victorian Maritime Museum who intends to display it at a wet dock with a submarine.
ULLU — a tug design of the 1920s and 1930s
MODERN DUTCH WORKER BOAT used to move ships and barges around a harbour. Pushy Boat.
EDWARDIAN LAUNCH — A Pleasure Boat for still waters and wealthy clients in the late nineteenth century.
Powered by steam in real life this model has a working model steam engine.
PUFFER TUG — Lightweight tugs built during WWII for harbour use.
They were assembled by women from prefabricated sections made all over the UK.
They were needed to replace the heavy tugs that had been in the harbours previously but commandeered to salvage damaged convoy ships in the Atlantic.
MAGGIE BOAT — smaller cargo boats built to service the Hebrides and Northern Scotland.
They have a wide beam to ensure high stability in the heavy seas of the area.
SCOTTISH PILOT BOAT — working the Clyde Estuary and servicing the dockyards and shipyards and their maritime visitors.