Name Koompartoo Port of registry Sydney | Owner Sydney Ferries Limited Length 58 m | |
Namesake Aboriginal word meaning new beginnings Route Circular Quay-Milsons Point Builder Walsh Island Dockyard and Engineering Works, Newcastle | ||
HMAS Koompartoo was a Royal Australian Navy boom defence vessel, converted from a Sydney Ferries Limited ferry.
History
Built in 1922 by the Walsh Island Dockyard and Engineering Works in Newcastle. Koompartoo was constructed with 18 watertight compartments, regarded as being unsinkable and therefore was not required to carry life saving equipment. It entered service on the Circular Quay to Milsons Point route. Made redundant by the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932, Koompartoo was laid up, later being made available for tourist cruises on the harbour.
In 1941 it was purchased by the British Ministry of War Transport for service in the Middle East and taken to Mort's Dock for conversion. However with the outbreak of the Pacific War it was never deployed, instead being taken over by the Royal Australian Navy on 18 June 1942 and converted to a boom defence vessel. Commissioned on 23 December 1942, it taken to Darwin in January 1943. Held in reserve in Darwin from 1945 until 1950, it returned to Sydney and laid up at Athol Bight. It was sold in 1962, stripped of her superstructure and towed to Launceston in 1966 for use as a bauxite barge.