Ken Warby and Robert Apathy celebrate with champagne
Photographer
David Watson
(deceased)
Date8 October 1978
Object numberANMS0532[257]
NameNegative
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Tumut and Adelong Times
DescriptionKen Warby and project manager Robert Apathy celebrate with champagne while sitting on the tail plane of SPIRIT OF AUSTRALIA.
Major 'Bob' Apathy met Ken Warby in Tumut in 1976 whilst Apathy was the divisional officer of the St John's Ambulance Brigade in Canberra who was overseeing some safety aspects of Warby's run that year. He was highly organised and became a close friend and ardent supporter of the journey of SPIRIT OF AUSTRALIA.HistoryKen Warby, SPIRIT OF AUSTRALIA's designer, builder and driver, achieved his world water-speed records on a shoestring budget. The boat was built over two years in the backyard of his suburban Sydney home, using stringers, brackets, stock bits of timber, plywood, screws and epoxy, and launched in 1974.
Warby first claimed the world record in 1977, taking his home-made hydroplane to a speed of 464.44 km/h and breaking American Lee Taylor's ten-year-old record of 458.98 km/h. But where Lee Taylor's record had cost close to $1 million in 1967, Warby built his boat in a suburban backyard with a military-surplus jet engine that cost $65. In 1978 he returned to Blowering Dam in the southern highlands of New South Wales and pushed his record to 511.11 km/h (317.68 m/h), where it still stands.
Warby was awarded an MBE (Member of the British Empire) in recognition of his achievement. More information about SPIRIT OF AUSTRALIA's construction, configuration and condition can be found on the Australian Register of Historic Vessels www.anmm.gov.au/arhv.SignificanceThe breaking of the 300 mph barrier was a personal triumph for Warby, who already held the world water speed record of 288.172 mph. Warby had nothing to prove to anyone but himself yet showing a disinterested world that he had been right all along must have been part of his joy.