The boats also floated, to some extent, the economy of the village. They bought material for maintenance, supplies for fishing trips, groceries and the like for their families when they were in port and fuel for the diesel engines which powered the cray boats. The townsfolk all knew each other and were linked socially as well as through the fishing fleet or the little enterprises which supported it.

Having spent all his summers on the Bellarine Peninsula Oscar Perri assumed Queenscliff to be the natural home of the famous Couta boat…Turns out, where there’s wood, there’s a story worth following.