Rumbelow Boats
The Taperoo

John Rumbelow worked on the Taperoo with cousin Don Rumbelow in the early 70s. fishing for crayfish and sharks outside Kangaroo Island.  It was owned and skippered by his uncle Graham Rumbelow. Graham purhaced the Gardiner motor and also upgraded the wheelhouse. He built the wheelhouse in his shed in Victor and transported it on a trailer to Port Adelaide and attached it while she was in the slip having the Gardiner fitted. "She was a great sea boat."

Yacht Club in Deep Sea Rescue

• Victor Harbour Times (SA : 1932 - 1986) 

•  Fri 6 Apr 1973 

Last Sunday morning at 9 a.m. a member of the Victor Harbor Yacht Club at the Murray Mouth heard a May-Day call on his two-way radio from a disabled boat. He raised the Port Elliot Surf Life Saving Club on his radio and they in turn contacted the V.H.Y.C. Rescue Squadron. 

The club then made radio contact with the disabled vessel, the Isa-bella, and established it had broken down about nine miles south of Victor Harbour and was at anchor in rough seas. Its radio was a small set on the same frequency as the yacht club's. The 30ft. Isabella was on its way from Robe to Port Adelaide and had broken down at 3 a.m. that morning. 

Realising it was too big for the club rescue boat, the members tried to find a fishing cutter that could help and were informed that there could be someone on board one of the fishing boats. 

The club rescue boat was launched and it was found that Malcolm Rumbelow, 19, and his cousin John Rumbe-low, 18, were on board the Taperoo. A member of the rescue boat boarded the Taperoo with a club radio and they set forth at 10 a.m. The rescue operations room at the Yacht Club maintained radio communications with both boats and established a bearing for the Taperoo. The Isabella later fired a flare which was sighted from the Taperoo. 

The Rumbelow boys did a particularly fine effort in locating the disabled boat and securing a line in the rough seas for the tow home. The Isabella's anchor could not be raised and had to be cut free. After the long haul back and the boats had reached the calm waters of the bay, the club rescue boat took over the tow to get the Isabella on to a safe mooring. Although at times difficult, the club maintained radio communication throughout the five hour operation.

Rumbelow tradition coming to an end

•  Victor Harbour Times (SA : 1932 - 1986) 

•  Wed 18 Jul 1984 

A 130 year old tradition of Rumbelow fishing in Victor Harbor is drawing to a close following the sale of the 'Taperoo' two weeks ago. Ironically, the boat was sold so that its owner Graham Rumbelow could return to the sea for his semi-retirement after seven years of working as a full-time carpenter.  Graham has bought a smaller, 30 foot boat which he will use to fish off the coast in place of the the 50 foot 'Taperoo' which has been working off Kangaroo Island for the past 15 years. 

Graham is the fifth generation of Rumbelows to be involved in crayfishing and whaling on the South Coast and is now the only member of the family carrying on the tradition since another Rumbelow fisherman retired recently. The Rumbelows were amongst the first whalers to come to Australia from England. Although one of Graham's three children is very keen on boats and the most likely fisherman in the family, Graham is pretty sure that he is the last of the Rumbelow fishermen. He pointed out realistically that whereas in his father's day there were only really two occupations in Victor Harbor - fishing and farming - now there were hundreds of opportunities for young people. 

But for Graham, fishing is definitely in his blood. His love of the sea is reflected in his backyard which houses about nine boats of different shapes and sizes. He explained that he had been forced to give up working on the Taperoo seven years ago when he suffered a heart attack and although he had continued to own the boat, it was run by a hired skipper and two crewmen. It is now possible for him to return to the sea because he will only be going out for one day at a time. 

Despite the increased use of electronic equipment in fishing today, Graham still considers it to be a challenge and is sure he will enjoy himself just as much as before. However, he added that new technology had meant that just about anyone with a few brains could get into fishing whereas previously it was something handed down through the generations. 

Referring to the sale of the Taperoo, Graham said it was a beautiful old working boat and he felt terrible when she left the harbour. 'A bit of you goes with them,' he said. Graham recalled some of the won-derful times he had experienced on the 'Taperoo' and some of the rough days when she had always 'come up' again. He also mentioned the many interesting people who had sailed with her such as a group of ornothologists and a university student from New Zealand. 

The boat, which had practically been rebuilt by Graham and Don, was bought by Paul Carr from Coffin Bay.

Incredibly, it will be working along side the 'Gra-lin' a boat that Graham Rumbelow built in 1962 and sold seven years later when he bought the 'Taperoo'. 

Graham's latest building venture is somewhat different to his previous vessels, being made of steel rather than wood and for use on the river, not the sea. He hopes to have the houseboat finished by next Easter so that the family can take a holiday up the River Murray from the mouth. And so as one tradition draws to an end, perhaps another will take its place?