From Racquets to Rivercraft: The Story of Putney’s Wartime Shipyard

As the Second World War unfolded between 1939 and 1945, the Australian government moved quickly to organise the nation’s industrial strength for the demands of total war. Rather than relying on large, permanent factories, it introduced a system of smaller, specialised facilities known as annexes. These were attached to existing industries and state organisations, such as the railways, and were operated by private companies on behalf of the government. This approach allowed production to expand rapidly while still keeping costs and profits under careful control. It also ensured that Australia would not be left with vast, redundant munitions factories once the war had ended. Across New South Wales, around fifty companies took on this role. 

Among them was Slazengers (Australia) Pty Ltd—a firm best known, before the war, for manufacturing sporting goods. In peacetime, such products were considered a luxury, and had little place in a nation fully committed to military production.

Slazengers’ main factory was located at Alexandria, in Sydney’s inner city. Here, the company redirected its skills toward the war effort, producing rifle and Bren gun components, as well as ammunition boxes. Nearby, in an annexe, workers manufactured filter pads for anti-gas respirators, while at Empire Timbers Limited in Balmain, they handled aircraft timbers destined for Royal Australian Air Force gliders.

By 1942, Slazengers took on an entirely new challenge: shipbuilding. Despite having no prior experience in the field, the company recognised that its expertise in precision woodwork—refined through the manufacture of tennis racquets—could be adapted for boat construction. By applying laminated timber techniques, they began producing hulls for a range of small craft. Company executives even travelled to the United States to study plywood manufacturing methods, returning with knowledge that led to a patent in 1942 for a specialised plywood barge.

Demand grew quickly. By early 1943, orders were coming in for towboats, assault boats and punts, with the promise of more to follow. While smaller vessels could still be built at Alexandria, the scale of production soon outgrew the site. A new location was needed.

By March 1943, work had begun. An initial workforce of 41 men laboured under improvised conditions, with marquees erected to shield both workers and materials from the elements. Their task was to construct 45-foot plywood punts for the United States Army, vessels destined for the Pacific theatre where small craft were playing an increasingly vital role.

As the war intensified, demand from the United States for such vessels grew. In response, the Australian government formalised the Putney operation as a wholly government-owned project, managed by Slazengers on behalf of the Australian Shipbuilding Board. Permanent structures soon replaced the temporary arrangements, including construction and storage sheds, change rooms, shower and washing facilities, mess rooms, and a lavatory block.

At its peak, the Putney shipyard employed around 80 workers—shipwrights, painters and dockers—many assigned through the government’s Manpower Directorate. Like much of the wartime shipbuilding industry, the site faced a shortage of skilled labour. This was addressed through a training program that brought retired boat builders and shipwrights back into service. They trained a new generation of cabinet makers, joiners and carpenters in traditional tools and techniques, teaching them how to wield broad axes and adzes, and how to shape and bend timber. Additional support came from blacksmiths and engineers also supplied through Manpower.

Not long after operations commenced, Slazengers appointed a local figure, Putney boatbuilder Bill Fisher, as foreman shipwright. Fisher oversaw production on site and witnessed important technical developments, including the introduction to Australia of a process for impregnating timber with creosote. This innovation allowed the punts to be “tropic proofed,” protecting them from infestation by teredo worm—a critical consideration for vessels operating in warm Pacific waters. The creosote used in this process was produced by Timbrol Ltd at Rhodes, linking yet another local industry to the war effort.

By late 1944, the work at Putney expanded once again, this time to include an order for motor scows for the Royal Australian Air Force. These vessels were substantial: 56 feet in length with an 18-foot beam, constructed from two-inch oregon timber, copper-sheathed on the bottom, and powered by 160-horsepower diesel engines. Like the earlier craft, they were intended for service in the Pacific. Six were completed, and a further 27 were in production when the war came to an end in 1945.

With peace declared, the purpose of the shipyard disappeared almost overnight. The Putney site closed, bringing to an end a brief but intense chapter of industrial activity along the Parramatta River.

For Bill Fisher, however, the story continued. He returned to his own nearby business, where he resumed boatbuilding in peacetime conditions—a craft he would practise for decades, until his death in 1992 at the age of 86.