Fishermans Beach, Collaroy: Historic boat winches to be reinstated as modern art
Thanks to the vision of a woman and her late father, historic boat winches on the northern beaches are being refurbished before they are reinstated as modern art.
Manly
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They have been rusting and deteriorating but evoking curiosities along the shoreline of a popular Sydney beach for decades.
Now, thanks to the vision – and hard work – of a woman and her late father on the northern beaches, the historic boat winches on Fishermans Beach at Collaroy will be given a new lease of life.
The 12 winches, which used to haul heavy fishing boats up the beach to sit near a row of fishermen’s huts lining the bay just north of Long Reef Headland, have been removed temporarily to be sandblasted and refurbished.
But when they return to their beachside home, likely by the end of the year, they won’t be used to drag vessels across the sand.
Instead, they will become modern art works to be placed along the Northern Beaches Coastal Walkway.
A special public storyboard will also be installed about the history of fishing in the area for the public to view.
The restoration is the brainchild of Michell Cudmore, of Narrabeen, and her late father Tony Davis, who was the president of the Long Reef Fisherman’s Club — the oldest fishing club in NSW.
Ms Cudmore said she was prompted to seek out funding for the restoration after seeing the winches, set on concrete bases, gradually rust away and fall apart into the sand.
She managed to get a $29,500 grant through the state government’s Primary Industries Department.
Northern Beaches Council is helping with the landscaping and civil works. The concrete blocks are being taken away and the winches will sit on decorative sandstone plinths.
Ms Cudmore, who is on the fishing club committee, said she and her father began talking in 2020 about how sad it was that the winches had fallen into such as state of disrepair.
“The last remaining fisherman’s hut on the beach is heritage-listed, but the winches, which are part of the whole theme of the area, aren’t.
“The guys from the fishing club would keep trying to put the winches back on their bases, but you really need heavy equipment to do it, but they didn’t have any funding for it.
“So I said to Dad ‘let’s do something about it’.
“Sadly, Dad didn’t get to see the end result, which is a shame.”
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