Where Are All The Boats?

During a walk along the Brisbane River near the Botanical Gardens, I was intrigued by the boats, wondering what life would be like for those living on them, bobbing along with each passing wave as other boats or the City Cats and Ferries went by, or what happened to those boats when the weather changed. As I looked further along, I noticed that there were no boats moored. This section of the Brisbane River was normally bustling with boats. Where were the boats that would be moored there? Had they been moved because of all the bad weather that had been around the area? Were they out in the Bay or one of the nearby Islands for Australia Day celebrations (the next day was Australia Day and would be a Saturday)? Then there are the two canoes at the bottom of the image, adding a very distinct pop of colour to the relatively calm waters of the Brisbane River. Then looking up, I saw the darkened sky, and I wanted to capture a moment in time where everything was ‘still’ except for the birds flying in the background, waiting for the oncoming storm.

The Brisbane River has an ocean tidal flow of (normally) up to 2 metres every 11.5 hours and can have a current flow of up to 4 knots. Many who use the River and live on the boats need to be aware of the tidal flow and moor during a slack tide or things can get rather challenging.

After some research, I found that the moorings in the image (a total of more than 20 long-term moorings in fact) were proposed to be removed to make way for the Brisbane City Council’s river walk and on-water access hub. Prior to the demolishment of these moorings, there were 54 moorings available at the Gardens Point Boat Harbour, where this image was taken.