Rumbelow Boats
The Rambler

Built at Port Adelaide in 1875, the racing yacht was converted to a cray and fishing boat by the Rumbelow family in 1904 and christened the Rambler.

The boat changed hands many times, the wooden cutter which made many fishing trips to Kangaroo Island and many exciting and adventurous excursions were undertaken in this boat. 

It was still used in the 1990s before a Kangaroo Island resident purchased it with the intention of restoring it. 

Now the oldest known colonial-built fishing boat in South Australia, it was transported to Council land near Waitpinga Road, and donated to the National Trust of South Australia following the State Government ordered the closure and demolition of Searles’s Boatyard to make way for a new apartment complex.

Henry Rumbelow tells that on one occasion a huge shark followed the Rambler home from the schnapper grounds, the fishermen hoping he would leave them when they moored their boat, but such was not the case. As they boarded their dinghy to come ashore the monster became even more threatening. Again Malin came to the rescue. Seizing a newly sharpened lance from the dinghy's bow he stood with it poised and as the shark swam with inches of the side he drove it with a mighty lunge through the shark's gills. The shark hurriedly departed leaving a trail of blood to crimson the water. 

The Rambler was built with Margaret River jarrah, kauri and redgum in the design of a traditional English fishing boat known as a smack. It was used as a fishing boat, racing yacht, a mail boat, and even to collect ballots in early South Australian elections.

The Rambler was partly clad with copper sheeting and Dr Wendy van Duivenvoorde and students from Flinders University's marine archaeology program have been able to see how it was repaired and renewed over its working life.

"It's probably the earliest surviving fishing vessel in South Australia, and possibly even in Australia, that's Australian built," she said.

Dr van Duivenvoorde said there was also a lot of Indigenous "agency" in the ship, pointing out that the very early shipwrights depended heavily on Indigenous knowledge of local trees and their properties in the water, and for labour in the shipyards.

'My great-great-grandfather died on board'

Donald (Don) Rumbelow, a descendant of Malen Rumbelow, the boat's original owner and skipper, said it was built in 1875 at Birkenhead by Peter Sharp.

"It was always one of those boats that the Rumbelows referred to," he said.

"My great-great-grandfather died on board. He pulled in a snapper and collapsed on the deck."

Mr Rumbelow said the boat was used for catching snapper, snook and crayfish but also for doing the early mail run between Victor Harbor and Kangaroo Island and had even been used to transport ballot boxes during elections.

After it was sold by the Rumbelows it changed hands many times and was still used in the 1980s before an American River resident purchased it with the intention of restoring it. From there it ended up at the now closed Port Adelaide boatyard.

Mr Rumbelow said he had spoken to members of council several times over the years to see if it could be put somewhere in the town as an attraction.

"There was talk of trying to get it fixed up good enough for display but that just didn't happen," he said. "I spoke to old boatbuilders at Goolwa about it but that would have been a heap of money."