Ferry departs looking its best
By Tim Howard
The residents of Ulmarra did their best to ensure their beloved ferry sailed into history looking its absolute best for its last day of service on Monday.
The 74-year-old vessel, the latest to have crossed the Clarence River between Ulmarra and Southgate, made its last trip at 10.40pm on Monday, ending more than 130 years of history.
After making its last trip on Monday it’s scheduled to be towed to Harwood Marine where it will be decommissioned
Residents from Ulmarra and Southgate, who had fought the NSW Government since April to keep the ferry service, gathered on Sunday to dress up the vessel for its last two days of service.
Cr Steve Pickering, an Ulmarra businessman, has been one of the leading figures in the battle to save the ferry service.
He brought two notices of motion to Clarence Valley Council, calling for the council to urge the State Government to ensure the ferry service continued.
Residents also raised a petition which quickly attracted more than 6000 signatures which the Member for Clarence, Richie Williamson, presented to State Parliament.
Ulmarra and Southgate residents have added some festive touches to the Ulmarra Ferry of its last day on Monday. The last crossing occurred at 10.40pm.
While Cr Pickering was disappointed the government ignored the clear wishes of the community most galling was decision to maintain a ferry service in Sydney, which compared less than favourably with the Ulmarra service.
“The same day the Clarence Valley community discovered that while the Ulmarra ferry service had been cancelled, the same government took ownership and operational control of the Lower Portland Ferry,” Cr Pickering said.
“The Lower Portland Ferry is in Sydney, transports fewer vehicles, costs more, and the equivalent trip by road is shorter than the trip between Ulmarra and Southgate via Grafton.
“To hear this information is devastating and unbelievable.”
Cr Pickering said to take a service from regional NSW and then use the cost savings to buy and operate a similar service in Sydney was not right.
“It’s not right for a government that is supposed to represent all citizens to so blatantly and obviously favour and support those who live in Sydney over our farmers, tradies, families, and tourists,” he said.
“Come on Jenny Aitchison MP, what is going on here? This decision was made before the decision to cancel the Ulmarra service was made.”
Cr Pickering said a Transport for NSW spokesperson had commented on local radio that the Portland service was different because the ferry in use was not near the end of its useful life and there was no sandbank issues.
“The thing about that is the government has known about those issues for a long time and done nothing to fix them,” he said.
“If they’d been serious about keeping the ferry service they would have had plans in place to replace it and deal with the silting problem.
“Instead they did nothing and just closed it down.”
Social media has also lit up with support for keeping the ferry service and many people taking time to have one last trip on the ferry and sharing the experience.
The ferry leaves to cross the river during its last day of service on Monday. Transport for NSW decommissioned the ferry on Monday, ending more than 130 years of river crossings at Ulmarra.
Rumour the ferry was on the chopping block began to emerge early in the year and by aMarch Mr Williamson had raised a petition calling on the NSW Government to keep the ferry.
But before he could bring the petition to parliament the TfNSW director North Region Anna Zycki made the announcement the ferry was to close.
She said it had reached an age and condition where it was no longer fit to operate and ongoing river conditions also made the service untenable.
“The existing ferry has reached the end of its serviceable life,” she said.
“Because the existing ferry is now so old and requires so much repair, such a large restoration project would take about 18 months and cost an estimated $5 million, which is around a million dollars more than building a new car ferry.
“It’s effectively beyond repair, so this service would have been closed for that length of time anyway.”
Ms Zycki said silting on the southside of the river at Southgate was another problem for the service.
“The river is constantly changing course and there is nothing we can do to prevent the silt building up,” she said.
“We’ve dredged in the past, but it’s only a matter of a couple of weeks and the silt is back. It’s costly to do and has no lasting benefit.”
Ms Zycki said the number of cars carried on the ferry had plummeted since the opening of the second bridge at Grafton.
“When the new Balun Bindarray Bridge opened in Grafton in late 2019, patronage of the Ulmarra ferry immediately dropped by 46%” Ms Zycki said.
“It was anticipated that demand for the ferry would decline once the new bridge opened so it would largely replace the ferry service.
“The patronage hasn’t returned and the ferry – when river conditions allow it to operate – now carries on average about one vehicle per trip, costing taxpayers $22 for each vehicle journey.”
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