Sheep shearing on Badger Island has been in the Stackhouse family for close to 70 years. Andrea Trezise is the middle daughter of the late Alf Stackhouse - a pioneer of sheep farming on Flinders Island, who died in 2019.
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On Wednesday, the last load of wool from Badger Island was unpacked at Launceston's Kings Wharf - approximately 2400 kilograms of it, all transported on the Alcheringa II just like Alf did with his family for many years. Ms Trezise said it was a bittersweet experience.
"I used to meet him [Alf] because I get seasick. If I'm on a boat for five seconds I get off and I'm rocking for two days," she said.
"He used to say 'come on the boat with me and get the wool', and I'd say 'no, I'll meet you at the wharf and grab the ropes and help you unload'.
"I still come and grab the rope. It is different to what it used to be, they used to just throw a weighted string line and you'd pull it over ... that was my job, then we'd all help load the wool onto a truck.
"There was a bit of a lump in my throat when I saw her [the Alcheringa II] coming in [on Wednesday]."
Ms Trezise said she had plenty of fond memories from her childhood, including working on Badger Island with her father.
"I pretty much lived there and when we grew up that was the highlight of living on Flinders - going to Badger and working," she said.
"Originally they used to have about 300 head of cattle on Badger and around 2500 sheep - and so every September we'd go down shearing and it used to take two weeks.
"They just had four shearing stands and we'd get the sheep in, get them all ready and the shearers would come down - it was like a big family holiday."
As for the Alcheringa II, the boat was by beloved by Alf, who salvaged it off the rocks of Lady Barren Island.
"He worked on her, and that's when he started doing stuff on her," Ms Trezise said.
"He used to carry the sheep on the deck to Badger on a couple of trips, and from memory he had a rail around so the sheep were safe.
"I can remember him doing it at least once, and I think he may have brought one of the horses back from Badger, because we had horses down there to muster the sheep - it was too rocky to ride motorbikes."
After Alf's death, the Alcheringa II was purchased by his friend John McGee, who took on the transportation of the final load of wool from Badger Island to Kings Wharf.
Mr McGee said the trip came about as part of a "gentleman's agreement" with the sale.
"I'd had a bit of a love affair with Alf's boat for a long time, I've always liked his boat," he said.
"I was just lucky enough to be on Flinders Island and been told that the Alcheringa II was coming up for sale because Alf had passed on, so I purchased it.
"In the deal when I purchased the vessel, they said they still had the last of the wool sitting on Badger Island that needed to come off, and me being a bit of a history buff, I wanted to say I was the last person to take the wool off.
"Alf Stackhouse was like the pioneer of farming sheep on Flinders Island, so I knew that this would be the last time that wool would be picked up by the Alcheringa II and transported in the traditional way.
"It was important - Alan who I brought the boat off was very very good throughout the deal, and it all went on a gentleman's agreement, and they're just such lovely people. It was very important that that lived on."
The last adventure set sail from Launceston, stopping in at Lady Barren Island and Flinders Island.
"We picked up quite a large amount of diesel fuel, roofing iron and timber for the shearing sheds," Mr McGee said.
"Then we took that to Badger Island and dropped it on the island.
"It took us about 15 hours each way by boat, about two and a half hours to unload the diesel and gear, and probably another hour to put on the wool, it went on quite quickly - Alan and his son had done it many times before so they knew how it went.
'They rolled [the wool] down onto the rocks on the foreshore, and we brought Alcheringa II in beside a very small jetty to bring it on board."
"Alf would have been there with us, there's no doubt about that.
"He's been yaffling in my ear since I brought the boat. We made it back just before bad weather came.
"We had a beautiful trip back, there were four large whales jumping around and feeding out near Waterhouse Island, we played with them for about half an hour on the way home."
Mr McGee said one of the best parts about his purchase of the boat was its history.
"The love that came with the boat from the family was just intriguing, the whole family absolutely love this boat and loved Alf, and I just felt like it was the right thing to do to continue Alf's dream," he said.
There's now new dreams for Mr McGee and the Alcheringa II - undertaking upgrades to the boat, with a long trip in the works.
"There is a bit of pressure there to keep it up," he said.
"I live on board full time now, and I've got a bit of work to do but the boat is now my home - I won't be able to put wool in my lounge room anymore.
"Alf was a very old school person, he only really needed the basics on board, so I would like to have a nice flushing toilet and a nice hot shower.
"I'm hoping to leave to sail the South Pacific in maybe 18 months, across to New Zealand and up to Tonga, Hawaii, Tahiti and all those places.
"I've been at sea since I was 13 years old, so 40-something years out at sea."
It's his adventures on the Bass Straight that Alf is most recognised for in recent years, but Ms Trezise said it was his love of flying that she recalls from childhood.
"I remember a lot of hairy, scary flights into Badger," she said.
"He never put us at risk, he knew what he was doing.
"He used to carry the rams down behind the pilot seat, and us kids used to sit there."
According to Ms Trezise, the aviation department were often scouting around Alf - so they had a system in place to ensure that they weren't caught out.
"He'd always fly over the airstrip before he landed, and if the department of aviation were around there'd be this signal, if the signal was out and we were on board the plane he'd stop at the end of the runway and we'd get out and run out, so that when dad got down there to where they were he was legal," she said.
"I think they grounded that aircraft, I'm not 100 per cent certain, and that was at the museum in Hobart.
"When people talk about him with boats, he did a lot with boats but did a lot with flying."
Ms Trezise said her dad would be grateful to see his pride and joy being looked after so well.
"I think dad would be pleased, I think he'd be smiling," Ms Trezise said.
"I think he'll go on and do all the things that dad dreamt of doing which is good."
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