Blog

Important events in the development of Independence.

29 June 2023 - Visit by Parliamentarians

RIG was delighted to see our Federal Member, Rebekah Sharkie, visit us again. Rebekah has been to see us many times in the past and this time...

27 June 2023 - Hull Finished!

It's been a long time coming 2023 is the 10th anniversary of the inception of the RIG project so you will understand the team's euphoria.

25 June 2023 - Nearly There

It's been quite a while since we updated this website but one can only post so many pictures of planks being added to Independence! Slowly but...

27 May 2022 - RIG's Safety Grant

RIG was awarded a volunteers' grant last year and has now expended the grant mostly on safety equipment. Whilst all our volunteers, be they...

4 April 2022 - SA Governor's Visit

RIG was honoured to be visited by the Governor of South Australia, Frances Adamson, AC on Monday 4 April. HE was accompanied by Michael...

Scaffolding wraps round the Independence

13 March 2022 - RIG WIns Equipment Grant

Last year, RIG applied for a grant from the Federal Government to provide for a safer working environment for our volunteers. As is fairly common...

01 March 2022 - RIG Collection Available On-line

This time, we are looking at another aspect of RIG its collection of artefacts. For some time now, one of our members has been collecting and...

11 November 2021 - Work Continues

Excitement is building up as we approach another milestone. This time, it's the impending completion of the first skin of hull planks. Made...

Maybe not the world's biggest but certainly the best

04 July 2021 - Independence Day Bonfire

July 4th this year (2021) was a spectacular community day with the Rally at the wharf in the morning followed by a fantastic BBQ at the home of...

07 June 2021 - New Story Board

Our guides frequently get too busy to find the time to tell the story of Independence in full to all visitors. So one of our members who is an...

24 April - a different view

We like to show pictures which give you an idea of the progress we are making with the rebuild of Independence. Most of these photos are...

07 April 2021- Press Report

We are getting our fair share of press coverage these days. This time it's from the Melbourne based Weekly Times via their journalist Sarah...

Starboard side (remember she's upside down!)

28 February 2021 - Planking Continues

Planking continues and the photos show the progress as at the end of February 2021. There are now 16 planks on each side of the hull and the...

Sat 30 January 2021 - The Advertiser SA WEEKEND update

Our many thanks to Jennifer Hullick (Editorial) and Simon Cross (Photographer) from The Advertiser's SA WEEKEND for sharing our wonderful story on...

27 November 2020 - update

With the resumption of weekly working evenings, we are seeing real progess on the mounting of the hull planks. 9 planks are now on each side of...

18 October 2020 - First Hull Planks in Position

At the build evening on Thursday 15 October, a major step forward was taken with the positioning of the first hull planks. These have now...

9 October 2020 - Building Again!

Now that things are warming up, RIG's build nights are starting again. The first was held yesterday, 8 October, and a good time had by all. Thanks to...

7 July 2020 - Flinders Returns by Sealink!

In 2016 a large log was discovered buried in the beach at American River by the builders of the retaining wall outside the RIG Boathouse and Deck...

23 March 2020 - Closure of Boathouse

It is with heavy heart that we announce the tenporary closure of the RIG Boathouse at American River. This is to protect both you our potential...

06 February 2020 - RIG Video

Following the disastrous bushfires in the western part of the island, RIG has joined the "open for business" campaign. This encourages visitors...

02 February 2020 - RIG Boathouse Bazaar Results

Over the Australia day weekend (25 to 27 January), RIG held a Boathouse Bazaar. The funds raised will all go to the mayor's bushfire...

22 January 2020 - Latest on Bushfires

Unless you've spent the last few weeks on the moon, you have probably heard that Kangaroo Island has been badly affected by catastrophic...

4th November 2019 - New Flag Arrives

As regular visitors would know, here at RIG we fly a number of flags. At one end of the boathouse, we fly: French in memory of Nicolas Baudin...

8th September 2019 - Visit to Stonington, Ct, USA

Stonington is the town from which the American Sealers, lead by Isaac Pendleton, who built Independence hailed. American River resident...

7th August 2019

Delighted to report that the planking which will form the hull of Independence has arrived in American River. Three large and very heavy packs of...

11th July 2019

The great day when the keel is finally in position.

Greg, Paul and Sean putting up the seats

29th June 2019

Build evenings, which are normally held on Thursdays, have been suspended until the weather warms up. However, that doesn't mean that nothing...

31st May 2019

Your webmaster has been travelling the world so apologies that there have been no updates for a while. In my absence, the keel has been taken...

28th March 2019

The keel is being prepared for positioning on Independence. This is likely to be a process of a number of iterations, changing the shape...

Greg and Grant start lining up the frames ready for final positioning

17 November 2018

Today, we removed the lofting table on which the frames have been built as all frames have now been built and the space is needed to erect the...

01 November 2018

All the ribs have now been constructed and as many as possible are in position. Soon, the lofting table will be removed so that the remaing...

Peter and Greg discuss the finer points of boat building

30 April 2018

RIG was honoured to be presented with a model of Independence. Peter and Joyce Chapman, from Noosaville in Queensland, visited RIG last year. Peter's...

Tony and David with John Ayliffe who made the carving

18 January 2018

The first of the Thursday evening workshops was held on 18 January and was enjoyed by the 10 people who took part, despite the high temperatures.

21 November 2017

John Noble of Kingscote has kindly donated the “Josephene”, together with trailer to RIG. “Josephene “ is a Roberts 32’...

Late October 2017

Most of you will know that there is a model of Independence at the junction of Hog Bay and American River Roads. This model attracts much touristic...

30 September 2017

RIG had a stand at the annual Adelaide Show and sold raffle tickets in aid of the project. The prize was a holiday on Kangaroo Island for which...

22 July 2017

Each frame needs to have a "floor" added to which the keel will eventually be attached. The photos show Greg bolting the floor in place under the...

20 May 2017

Today the seventh frame was installed. This will be the last for a wee while as other parts will now be constructed and prepared for installation.

Tony presenting a RIG pennant to the President of TSASA, Steve Lewis

Early May 2017

Tony and Greg went to the big city on a mission to inspect some hoop pine which has been donated to RIG by an arborist at Smithfield. The timber was...

25 March 2017

The Rebuild Independence Group has instituted a “buy a plank” scheme since its inception. This scheme has proved to be very popular with...

David Churchill explains the finer points of building a schooner

15 March 2017

We were delighted to welcome Rebekah Sharkie, Member for Mayo and Tony Smith, Speaker of the House of Representatives. They spent some time in the...

11 March 2017

3 frames are now in place and you can see clearly the shape of the vessel. The front frame is considerable narrower because it is close to the bows.

14 January 2017

Ian Moffat, Flinders Uni Archaeology Dept., is working on creating a grid pattern to help in determining where the original Independence was...