Wed 5 Dec 1923

The Old Lucinda

- An Historic Yacht -

The Queensland Government steam yacht, Lucinda, for many years claimed the stateliest and most beautiful vessel of its kind in Australia, and rich in historical association with the growth of Queensland and the creation of the Australian Commonwealth, has been sold for £400, and, it is expected, will pass to the scrap heap. A steel paddle boat, built to the order of the Griffith Administration by W. Denny & Bros, of Bumbarton in 1884, she had cost the colony, when brought out and first moored in the Brisbane River, £19,954[.]

The passing of this graceful boat, on whose wide white decks have paced and played generations of Queenslanders, old and young, on festive outings to Moreton Bay, in whose spacious cabins the destinies of Queensland have been mapped out by her leaders and Australia's statesmen have been debated and decided natural questions, the greatest of which had relation to the formation of the Commonwealth and the framing of the Federal Constitution, is therefore, of historical moment and much sentimental interest.

It was in the last century that the Lucinda was taken to Sydney where, upon her, on the water of Port Jackson, one of the Federal Conventions was held, and it also was on this voat that Sir Samuel Griffith did such wonderful service for his country in the framing of a tentative constitution. For very many years successive Queensland Governments held their party meetings aboard the Lucinda. Many a Cabinet meeting has taken place within the privacy of its saloon; scores of thousands of school children have enjoyed upon it the delights of a Bay outing; and for the outing of public and semipublic bodies, it was, when in commision, ever in request.