Entering a maze of muddy islands, the mouth of the Victoria is a vast delta within the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf that does not easily explain itself to mariners. We are in the 65-foot Island Explorer, decked out for group fishing tours but now temporarily repurposed in an attempt to locate two anchors that were cut free from the Beagle at a point on the river named Holdfast Reach 180 years earlier.

The Abrolhos are phenomenal! Clusters of islands and reefs hover just a few metres above sea level and are interspersed with fishermen’s dwellings that are occupied during the high season.

After years of building a dinghy collection, Tony now wants to develop a place to celebrate these boats, the people who built and sailed them and the Swan River environment itself.