Harry Vale Mouchemore (1920-2008)

The past is important," said Harry Vale Mouchemore.

Born in 1920, Harry was a fisherman from the seaside town of Fisherman's Flat, Queenscliff in Victoria Australia where he lived all his life.

At the age of 18 he bought his first boat and named it Jessie after his first girlfriend. He named all his boats after the women in his life. "I had six boats and so ran out of women," he said. He named his last boat Pepe after his pet chihuahua.

In the darkness of early morning he joined the fleet of up to 50 fishing boats which left Fisherman's Flat in search of barracouta. A prominent sailor he won many boat races, although he also had some close calls. Once he almost collided with a passenger steamer

Harry changed from fishing for barracouta to cray fishing. He dangled a line overboard with a weighted leader smeared with grease which he used to check if the bottom was rocky or sandy.

A fisherman in an era before unions and GPS satellite tracking systems he navigated the coastline using the pine trees of the foreshore which he knew as landmarks. On 17 December 1967 when Prime Minister Harold Holt disappeared from nearby Cheviot Beach at Portsea in Victoria, Harry contributed his knowledge of the local tides and currents to the search.

He stopped fishing around 1996 and lived in one of the tiny harbourside cottages at Fisherman's Flat which overlooked the bay. He claimed that his legs didn't work as well once he stepped off his fishing boat for the last time.

Harry's cottage was so close to the water that he watched the boats from his back porch, which was adjacent to the Queenscliff Slipway. The Slipway was later decommissioned and removed as part of the town's new harbour development.

Happily married and a grandfather, Harry was often seen with his walking frame on his way to the shops while he listened to the cricket or the football on his small portable radio, with his dog Mouse at his side.

He was a volunteer guide at the Queenscliff Maritime Museum where he talked to people from around the world and answered their questions.

Today Harry Vale Mouchemore is commemorated by a small exhibition at the Museum. The exhibition comprises his white line-honours jumper presented to him by the Queenscliff Couta Boat Association for his participation in thier Fishy Tales Queenscliff Maritime Weekend in 2006. Next to his white jumper is one of the Cray pots he made.

He was a walking history lesson, visitors to the Maritime Museum said. Harry Vale Mouchemore died in 2008.

Sources

Carmen Bell 2008 Couta Boat Association

Paul Pascoe 2006 Couta Boat Association