Having travelled on these work-boats for about 6 years to and from work in the 1960s-70s it never occured to me to ask from where they evolved. They were licensed to carry around 30 passengers.
From being extremely common, they all seem to have disappeared from the harbour.
As the hull shapes are very similar between each of them, were they originally lifeboats discarded from the ship-breaking industries?
I believe the Wallah Wallahs were classified as 'type 1' and were only licenced to operate within the harbour itself. They provided the only means of getting across the harbour when the Star ferries closed down between about 0100hrs and 0600hrs and were reputedly so called because of the rather loud 'puttering' noise that their engines made. They were also used as the means to get to and from the huge number of merchant ships that moored out in the harbour and I believe that some firms contracted them to provide a regular means of shipping small cargoes across the harbour. They basically went out of business when the first cross harbour road tunnel was opened, although I have a feeling that some of the operators might have switched to larger launches capable of going outside the harbour. Perhaps the design of these smaller Wallah Wallahs was based on redundant lifeboats but I think that they were mainly purpose built. Andrew
Taken from Blake Pier looking back towards Central. Here's a bird's eye view of the scene - the same yellow-roofed boats are at the left of the photo, in front of that distinctive shelter with the pitched roof.
1986 - helicopter view of Blake Pier, by Cliff Atkins
Comments
Walla-Wallas
Having travelled on these work-boats for about 6 years to and from work in the 1960s-70s it never occured to me to ask from where they evolved. They were licensed to carry around 30 passengers.
From being extremely common, they all seem to have disappeared from the harbour.
As the hull shapes are very similar between each of them, were they originally lifeboats discarded from the ship-breaking industries?
I believe the Wallah Wallahs
I believe the Wallah Wallahs were classified as 'type 1' and were only licenced to operate within the harbour itself. They provided the only means of getting across the harbour when the Star ferries closed down between about 0100hrs and 0600hrs and were reputedly so called because of the rather loud 'puttering' noise that their engines made. They were also used as the means to get to and from the huge number of merchant ships that moored out in the harbour and I believe that some firms contracted them to provide a regular means of shipping small cargoes across the harbour. They basically went out of business when the first cross harbour road tunnel was opened, although I have a feeling that some of the operators might have switched to larger launches capable of going outside the harbour. Perhaps the design of these smaller Wallah Wallahs was based on redundant lifeboats but I think that they were mainly purpose built. Andrew
Taken from Blake Pier looking
Taken from Blake Pier looking back towards Central. Here's a bird's eye view of the scene - the same yellow-roofed boats are at the left of the photo, in front of that distinctive shelter with the pitched roof.
Walla Wallas not forgotten
See
https://industrialhistoryhk.org/38383-2/