Andy McCutcheon100 Years of Wooden Glory - Norman Wright & Sons
September 6th 2007 10:16
Original Premises - Bulimba Queensland
Norman Wright & Sons
Norman Wright was born in 1885 in rather unremarkable circumstances in the isolated suburb of Bulimba, adjacent to the shores of the Brisbane River in Queensland Australia.
Normans Father, Henry William Wright, worked as a Customs Officer for the Australian Government and unlike many of the millionaire industrialists building boats at the turn of the century in North America and Europe, Norman was unencumbered by either a formal education or family wealth.
Nonetheless, despite this perceived handicap, Norman would go on to establish himself as one of the world’s most iconic boat builders of the twentieth century.
The Wright family was one of the original founding families in Bulimba and in fact one of the earliest settlers to the Brisbane area.
Norman began work at age ten as a cook and companion to a visiting journalist from the U.K. Upon the writers return to England, Norman attended school, but his attendance was sporadic at best and instead, he would often accompany his Father on trips to Coochiemudlo Island in the bay islands where they owned a pig farm.
By age Fifteen, Norman had sensed an impending failure of his Fathers pig farming venture and went to work in the paint shop at Sachs & Company in Brisbane.
Not long after, Normans Father caught a chill and subsequently died of pneumonia, leaving the teenaged Norman as the primary provider for the family.
Following the death of his Father, Norman worked with his brother Alfred, who was employed at Laycock-Littledykes as a joiner. With a combination of inexperience and exuberance, Norman was involved in a workplace accident that left him unable to work with three split fingers, resulting from a clash with a spindle moulding machine.
During his convalescence, Norman spent much of his time visiting the boat shed down the street owned by John Hawkins Whereat.
At the time, the yard contained a somewhat infamous 22’ sailboat named the “Bulletin” that had won an interstate race to Sydney in the late 1890’s. Normans interest in the boat alongside his fascination with how boats were built, prompted John Whereat to offer young Norman a job once his hand had healed.
Once being employed by Whereats, Norman quickly established a reputation for quality craftsmanship, while displaying an intuitive understanding of hull design and was promoted to foreman in 1906 at the age of 21.
In 1907 while still employed by Whereats, Norman designed and built a 10’ racing skiff he named “Commonwealth” and would later go on to win three successive Australian Championships in this boat.
By 1909 Norman’s vision had broadened and when an opportunity presented itself to buy out an ailing boat building business owned by a Mr. Woodhead, Frederick Hart agreed to lend Norman the sum of $200.00 £ to get him started and with his reputation as a quality tradesman from his days at Whereats, he ventured out on his own.
The first boat commissioned to Norman Wright to build was a shallow draft, gaff rigged schooner called “Superb” built for James Hogan Smith.
Following the construction of Superb, the first official contract was signed for the building of a 56’ ferry named “Olivene” that would run between Sandgate, Woody Point and Redcliffe for the Humpybong Steamship Company.
By the end of the first six months in business, Norman had repaid his loan back to Frederick Hart and was well established financially.
Business kept coming in the 1920’s and the boatyards proximity to the local tram station allowed clients and potential buyers alike an opportunity to stop by for a yarn.
In 1928 construction began on the largest racing yacht ever built by the Wright yard.
J.G. McWilliam, the first manufacturer of plywood in Australia placed an order for “Francois”, a shallow draft 75’ schooner. While many early Norman Wright designed and built boats can still be seen in the coastal waters of the south pacific today, Francois was sold to the manager of U.K. boat builders Thorneycroft and delivered to their yard in Singapore. During the occupation of Singapore by the Japanese in 1942, it is feared that tragically, this piece of Australian maritime history has been lost.
By the end of the 1920’s Norman Wright began building a number of fishing vessels, that proved to be a fortuitous decision as the building of fishing vessels became the mainstay of Wrights shipyard during the depression years.
By 1936 the effects of the depression had waned and the decision by the Brisbane City Council to relocate the city’s wharfs along the Newstead reach, resulted in Wrights having to relocate their business from Newstead to Bulimba, not 300m from where Norman had been raised as a boy.
The land he acquired in Bulimba had been the site of a tin smelting operation and in the process of constructing slipways a large quantity of tin had been unearthed. With the world preparing for WWII the price of tin had risen dramatically and by selling the tin, Norman was able to re-establish the boatyards new location with money to spare.
By 1941 with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, all building of recreational vessels had been suspended with resources being diverted to the war effort.
Acutely aware of the general shortage of vessels available for use in coastal patrols, military authorities commissioned Norman Wright to refit a number of small vessels for use in carrying cargo.
By this time Norman’s eldest son Norman James had become involved in the company and the burden of much of the wartime efforts had been placed on his tender shoulders.
The Wright boatyard at that time involved managing a staff of 110 men, largely unskilled labourers and under the watchful eye of military personnel. The perimeter of the yard was patrolled by armed sentries and many of the men camped out at the factory.
Shortly after the refit of the cargo vessels, Norman Wright was commissioned to build 4 of the British designed Fairmiles to be used as coastal patrol vessels and escort ships. The Fairmiles, built by all of the Commonwealth nations during the war era were 112’ long and were shipped in kit form owing to their ease of construction and quick turnaround times.
Despite this, Norman Wright was not satisfied with attaching his name or reputation to the status quo build quality and strengthened the construction wherever possible within military guidelines. As a result the Wright built Fairmiles were probably the finest built during the war. The four Fairmiles built by Norman Wrights would later go on to become converted passenger ferries.
With placement of American made Elco PT-Boats in the Solomon Islands during the war, Wrights became an authorized service and repair depot and Norman befriended the Commander of PT-117 from Texas, a relationship that would last well beyond the war years.
At the end of the war in the late 1940’s there was resurgence in boat building and a great deal of the boats being built over the next decade by Wrights was to fulfill commercial needs. Trawlers, luggers and a variety of passenger ferries encompassed the bulk of their work and it wouldn’t be until the early 1950’s that recreational boats made a comeback.
Throughout the 1950’s in the shadow of their Fathers racing pedigree, Norman’s two sons Norman and Ronald dominated the 16’ and 18’ class racing skiffs, taking a number of Australian titles as well as a world championship in 1956.
By this time both Norman and Ronald Wright had become experienced boat builders and after Ronald completed his degree in naval architecture, both sons assumed a more significant role and responsibility for the business.
In 1950 when Norman Wright Sr. had turned 65, despite the efforts of his capable sons, he was reluctant to relinquish control altogether and continued to dominate the design and implementation of all projects. One small concession was made however, to credit the work of his sons and the name of the business was re-named to Norman Wright & Sons Pty. Ltd. reflecting their level of involvement.
By 1960 the Wright brothers were now shareholders in the business and although they had now established some ownership in the company, Norman Wright Sr. was still insistent on maintaining a tight grip on the company’s financial position. Repeated disagreements between Father and sons eventuated in both boys leaving the company.
Norman Wright Jr. would return to the Bulimba yard occasionally to assist with specialized projects, but otherwise concentrated his efforts on a new venture building launches. Free of the burden of responsibility and away from his father, Norman Jr. accepted a berth on the 1962 America’s Cup Challenger “Gretel” and again five years later aboard “Dame Pattie”.
The 1960’s brought considerable challenges to Norman Wright & Sons. Many of the staff they had trained over the years had gone on to open competitive businesses such as Milkraft and Tripcony’s and production went into decline.
As Norman Wright Sr. got older, the responsibility for design work fell squarely on the shoulders of Ronald. Considered one of the best naval architects in Australia, his involvement would pave the way for the next generation of boat builders from Norman Wright’s stock.
By the mid-1960s in the wake of a motor vehicle accident that forced Ronald out of work for the next five years, Norman Wright Sr. hired a general manager for the yard. In consolidating the business efforts of the yard, he was largely responsible for the successful tendering of pilot boats commissioned by the Department of Harbours and Marine.
While this appointment enabled the yard to survive against the onslaught of Taiwanese built fiberglass imports and backyard builders, it served to change the dynamic of the company away from pleasure craft and into light commercial boat building.
In 1970 the death of Norman Wright Sr. marked the end of an era.
By now Ronald Wrights sons Bill and Ian had become involved in the business and the transition into management was infinitely easier by comparison to the experiences of their Father, while their Grandfather, Norman Wright Sr. was still alive.
Bill and Ian were at the forefront of available modern technologies that revolutionized boat building as we know it today and while there was provisioning made for use of fibreglass construction, the Wrights employed a process of cold moulding and dynal sheathing, something they had experimented with in the 1960s.
Construction of the 108’ Barrier Reef cruiser “Elizabeth E II” using modern epoxy resins, meant that it could be built from inexpensive Canadian Fir ply rather than with hardwoods, increasing its strength while reducing both its capital cost as well as its ongoing maintenance costs.
With incessantly rising fuel costs, the Wrights concept of high power to weight ratio in their composite construction methods, became blatantly obvious to charter operators who were looking at ways of reducing their costs.
Following the construction of Elizabeth E II a fleet of new generation luxury charter vessels was established. Their stunning good looks were equal to or better than their competitors made from fibreglass and aluminium.
As a result, Norman Wright and Sons Pty. Ltd. had become the preferred supplier to most charter, Government and Police agencies in Australia and were recently commissioned by the Royal Australian Navy to build a traditionally designed, 12m vessel currently in use as an Admirals tender.
While the Wrights continue to excel in the modern design and construction of commercial vessels “the apple hasn’t fallen too far from the tree”. When it comes to tradition re-introduction of a 1940’s styled picnic launch was due in part to the growing resurgence of classically styled boats coming on the market in recent times.
Andy McCutcheon, 100 Years of Wooden Glory. Copyright 2006
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