Halvorsen Boats traces its roots to 1887 when Halvor Andersen, a farmer, launched his first wooden craft near Arendal in the south of Norway. His son Lars followed in his father’s footsteps and became a boat builder.

Lars and his family, including sons Harold and Carl, settled in Sydney in 1925. From 1925 through to 1980 the family enterprise built over 1,500 craft making the Halvorsen name an Australian byword for quality and style.

After World War II the company acquired a lease at Bobbin Head located north of Sydney in the Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park. The family built a fleet of approximately 200 hire boats. This made the Halvorsen boat hire operation the world’s largest privately owned fleet of its time.

The quality and integrity of the Halvorsen workmanship is legendary. The standard of finish and fittings was unsurpassed; glistening teak, maple and mahogany paneling, French-polished interiors, custom made metalwork were all a cut above the rest.

Kangaroo, a 36’ Standard Cruiser, was launched in November 1958 (job 1127) into the Halvorsen Hire Fleet at Bobbin Head.  These elegant 36’ cruisers, first launched in July 1948, were the amalgamation of many previous design concepts and were the second in the range of standard cruisers offered by Halvorsens. The first 19 were designed for private buyers. Ten 36s were in the hire fleet with ‘Tooronga’ launched in April 1957 being the first. Others included ‘Enterprise’, ‘Peer Gynt’, ‘Miramar’ and ‘White Heather’.