Kubu






Kubu
Type :
 Wooden screw steamer
Launched  :
1912
Builder :
 Morrison & Sinclair Ltd
Balmain, NSW
Gross weight :
 258 tons
Dimensions :
 140.00 x 30.10 x 10.70 (feet)
Passenger capacity :
 1072
Speed :
 12 knots

Kubu was the first of three large sister ships built for Sydney Ferries Ltd in 1912. The others were Kiandra and Kirrule. Collectively the three were a sub-class of the 'K' ferries called the 'Kubu class'.

Kubu operated in the 1920's (along with some of her running-mates) as a harbour excursion vessel. She managed to survive the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932 and the purge of many remaining ferries in 1953. In the end though she was on borrowed time. While Kanangra was being converted to a diesel-powered motor vessel, Kubu was used as the heavy lift ship of the fleet, but, after Kanangra returned in 1959, she was retired.

She was broken up in 1960 and with her passing also went the last of the coal-fired steamers that had been a part of Sydney Harbour for a century.
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