“End of an era”: The man who helped design Sale waves goodbye to his Thomas River tours

Alan Lewis has spent the last 12 years explaining the history of Sale to tourists from the deck of his 112-year-old boat, the Rubeena, while floating down the Thomas River.

Lewis is an aficionado of the town’s history. He knows the tales from Sale’s early settler days, and helped design many of Sale’s public buildings while working as the city’s engineer for 16 years.

Recently Lewis decided to retire his cruise businesses and sell the Rubeena. This week he spoke to the Monitor about how the town he loves has changed over the decades.

What happened: Wellington Shire councillor John Tatterson described the closure of Lewis’ Port of Sale Heritage Cruises as “the end of an era” at the council meeting on Tuesday.

Tatterson said he worked under Lewis in 1984 as a young council engineer, and had been quite intimidated by his presence, given Lewis had been the City of Sale’s engineer for 16 years.

He landed the job in 1968 and during his time in the chair drew up the plans for many of Sale’s public buildings, including the shopping centre on Cunninghame Street, the railway station and the swimming pool.

“I was the city engineer, town planner, building surveyor, all of them rolled into one,” Lewis said. 

He recalled his final task as a council draftsman was to draw plans for the swimming pool.

“Back then you designed it, sketched it and then drew up the plans to build it. Those days are gone now. People don't use a set square anymore.”

Looking back at his time spent shaping the city, Lewis said: “I felt I made the town a more pedestrian-friendly space. I tried to keep the urban scale and maintain the walking paths. I wanted to make it more people-friendly.”

After leaving council in the mid-1980s, Lewis launched the project management business Lewis McNaughton with his late wife, Lois McNaughton.

“She did the back office work and I worked as the project manager,” he said.

Rubeena, the 100-year-old vessel

By 2013, Lewis had spent a few years as Chairman of tourism body Destination Gippsland.

“One of the problems was that we were encouraging people to come to Gippsland to enjoy an experience, but there weren't enough people providing experiences,” he said.

Then Lewis spied a cruise boat that had been operating in Lake Tyres go up for sale.

“I saw it and thought: I could make that work at Sale. So I bought the boat, did a bit of restoration work on it, and we started doing tours about 12 years ago.”

The Rubeena was first registered on April 4, 1912. 

Up and down the Thomas River

Since 2013, Lewis has operated his Port of Sale Heritage Cruises with the assistance of his daughter Rachel. 

“Early settlers would come either from Hobart or Sydney into Port Albert, and then come up to the Port of Sale,” he said.

“Then with the gold rush, Sale became a key entry point for Gippsland. Most of the gold from Walhalla travelled from stagecoach down to the port.”

Lewis is 84 and says it’s time to sell the Rubeena and the cruise business.

“I hope that somebody will take it over, I’m not asking for big money,” he said. “It’s more about the continuation, the heritage of it.”