Restoring Toroa a very big task

By WAYNE THOMPSON

Propped up in a Waitakere City field, the steam ferry Toroa was yesterday farther from the sea than ever in its 77 years.

But with people clambering over the decks, sitting in the cabins, and admiring the elephant-sized steam engine, Toroa was the gracious host after a 20-year retirement from public life.

The popularity of the open day also boosted the morale of Toroa enthusiasts as they begin fundraising for a two-year, $500,000 restoration job at the site beside the Northwestern Motorway.

"It must be soul-destroying - it's a wonder they have not given up by now," said one visitor as he looked at a rotting wound in the wooden hull.

But boatbuilder Peter McCurdy, who is preparing a conservation plan for the SS Toroa Preservation Society, was looking on the bright side.

"There's a colossal amount of work but it's all physically possible. The motivation is there is nothing like her left and she is a complete vessel that has not been altered."

Society secretary Jim McPhillips said the former Waitemata Harbour ferry was probably the only double-ended steam-driven ferry in the world.

Toroa still had its original triple-expansion steam engine and boiler, both in relatively good condition considering the ferry sank at its berth in a storm five years ago.

Mr McPhillips said Toroa was a tangible piece of the history and development of the harbour and useful in education and tourism.

Of its sister ferries, Kestrel was converted to diesel and is to be a floating restaurant in Tauranga Harbour, and Ngoiro is a restaurant on dry land at Tairua, on the Coromandel Peninsula.

Further reading
nzherald.co.nz/marine