Letter from Sydney Harbour Trust regarding slipway lease for Woodley's Boatsheds at Berry's Bay
Date9 May 1908
Object numberANMS1100[005]
NameLetter
MediumInk and pencil on paper
DimensionsOverall: 254 x 204 mm
ClassificationsEphemera
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Graeme Woodley
Description3x slipway leases for Woodley's boatshed, Berry's Bay.
5x slipway ledger books for Woodley's boatshed, Berry's Bay.
Photograph of Woodley's Boatshed, Berry's Bay, 1908.HistoryBerry's Bay at Mosman on the north side of Sydney Harbour has been a centre of boat building and repair since the first operations there by William Dunn, Walter Ford and William Langford in the 1870s. By the 1920s, Ford's yard was described as 'probably the most extensive in Sydney'.
During the twentieth century other notable yards at Berry's Bay were Groom Brothers and the Barnetts.
During the 1970s and 1980s, increasing waterfront property values saw the decline of the boatyards at Berry's Bay.
Woodley's Boatsheds at Berry's Bay commenced in 1908 with a lease from NSW Maritime, and were still operating in 2009 over 100 years later, one of the last in Sydney Harbour.
The 1908 photograph shows Woodley's slipway and yards with the yacht THELMA on slips. Woodley's mostly worked on yachts, tugboats and ferries built to 90 feet long, as well as boiler manufacturing.
SignificanceWoodley's Boatyards is a significant site in the history of Sydney's working harbour, operating in Berry's Bay from 1908 to 2009. The lease is an important document that records the begining of the Woodley family operations, and the lease map and photograph are excellent depictions of activities in Berry's Bay in 1908.
The slipway ledger books are also important as a continuous early record of vessels worked on at Woodley's.
