Maritime history enthusiasts celebrate
Maritime history buffs and classic boat enthusiasts have this year been celebrating the 1925 arrival of the Norwegian Halvorsen family to Australia – a migrant and business success story.
Lars Halvorsen came to Sydney, followed soon after by his eldest son Harold and then the rest of their family, seeking a better life. Lars had tested the water, in America and South Africa, but found Florida too large a market for an independent businessman, and Cape Town too small for an ambitious one.
Settling on the lower North Shore was an obvious choice. Thanks to its location across the harbour from the city of Sydney, boating had always been essential for the area’s growth and development. Many boatbuilding yards had sprung up from the late 19th century around the foreshores of Careening Cove, Neutral Bay, Lavender Bay and Berry’s Bay. Those firms included WM Ford, Holmes Brothers, and Woodley’s.
Lars Halvorsen and his five sons set up their business in Careening Cove in 1925, after six months initially in Drummoyne. Lars was a skilled shipwright and a persuasive salesman who soon had orders rolling in. In a 1996 oral history interview with Stanton Library, Harold said that people used to call them the ‘tinny Halvos’ – in the sense of ‘lucky.’
The boats built by Halvorsens were in no way ‘tinnies,’ but finely crafted timber vessels, ranging from fishing trawlers and commercial workboats to yachts and Sydney-Hobart racers. Boats were also built for missionaries working in New Guinea and the Pacific Islands. Lars Halvorsen was a committed Lutheran and a lay preacher (although only in Norwegian), and welcomed both church and secular customers.
After a couple of years, the Halvorsens outgrew the Careening Cove site, moving to Neutral Bay, a site with ‘tiny sheds and a few slipways, but virtually nothing there,’ Harold recalled. Lars rented a waterfront property with the aim of purchasing the land, developing a larger shed and slipway, and building a family home. But the Depression struck, ending that dream. Most people couldn’t afford to have existing boats repaired, let alone commission a new one. Harold remembers that a speedboat saved them. Lars built the ‘Kangaroo’ which provided a thrilling ride around the harbour for one shilling (double on the day the Sydney Harbour Bridge opened in 1932). With the speedboat income and their mother Bergithe’s expertise in mending clothes, the family survived. Business picked up with more private commissions by the mid-1930s, and eventually Lars was able to expand the boatyard.
At age 14, each boy left school to work in the boatshed. By the time the youngest son, Trygve, joined the business, Harold was married and had left home. The family lived in Ben Boyd Road, close enough for Lars and his sons to come home for lunch. His daughter Elnor recalled a neighbour commenting ‘I think it’s such a wonderful sight to see a man striding briskly up the road flanked by five big sons’ (Australian Women’s Weekly, 4 June 1975). This happy family picture ended abruptly in 1936 when Lars died aged 49. His standing in the community is clear from the letter of condolence Bergithe received from North Sydney Council. It also speaks to his diplomacy since it was only a few months earlier that the council debated at length whether to approve Lars’ application to build a new shed – depending on each alderman’s view of the merits of enterprise and business growth, versus the protection of Neutral Bay as a residential area. The residents themselves signed a petition stating that they had no objection to a new building as Halvorsen’s had never caused ‘any nuisance or annoyance to the neighbourhood.’ Lars was determined to finish the new building, saying, ‘I have to get it done because of my boys,’ but sadly never saw it completed. According to Harold, ‘he died from hard work, really.’
The family continued the business as Lars Halvorsen Sons from 1937, with Harold as managing director and principal designer. Operations moved to Ryde, with the Neutral Bay site still used for repair work and slipping until the early 1950s.
Bergithe remained the steadying hand for the Halvorsen ship, living until 1973, mostly at Kurraba Point. All her sons remained connected with boatbuilding or sailing, making the name Halvorsen synonymous with boats.
Historical Services, North Sydney Council