Though it sits over 100 kilometres from the coast, the small Victorian town of Cape Clear boasts both a lighthouse and a Viking longship.
The longship — dubbed Erika the Red — stretches 15 metres from its dragon-headed bow to its stern. Built entirely by local residents, the vessel is set to be burned on June 21 as part of the town’s annual Winter Solstice Bonfire.
The increasingly popular event takes place in Cape Clear, a community of about 150 people located 150 kilometres west of Melbourne.
Resident Evelyn Cannon admits that Erika the Red isn’t exactly seaworthy — it’s missing an entire side — but says seaworthiness isn’t the point.
“Our little Winter Solstice festival has been going for eight years now,” Ms Cannon said.
“Winter here is cold, dark and lonely — this event is about warmth and bringing people together.”
Attendance has grown steadily since the event’s inception.
“There were maybe 30 to 50 people that first year. Last year we had around 180. Who knows how many will come this year to see us burn a Viking ship?”
The making of Erika the Red
The Viking vessel was designed and built by Cape Clear woodworker Terry Kelly, with help from locals and materials sourced from around the area.
“The shields lining the sides were made from packing materials from a wind farm and painted by students at Cape Clear Primary School,” Ms Cannon explained.
“Our story draws inspiration from Erik the Red, the famous Viking explorer who reached America. Since we’re an inland town with a lighthouse, we imagined his fictional sister, Erika the Red, might have visited a place like this.”
While Mr. Kelly jokes that he isn’t a trained shipbuilder, he believes shipbuilding may run in his Norwegian ancestry.
“Maybe not Viking ships exactly, but in the 19th century my ancestors built fishing and coastal boats,” he said.
“We spent at least a dozen hours on the design. I built the dragon head and tail at home, inspired by a ship on display at the Viking museum in Oslo.”
Carrying on a fiery tradition
Erika the Red is the second vessel to be ceremonially burned for Cape Clear’s Winter Solstice Bonfire. Last year, the community set alight Lightning — a replica inspired by a clipper ship that caught fire and sank off the Geelong coast in 1869 while carrying wool to England.
Cape Clear itself was named by Irish settlers after an island off Ireland’s coast. Its most well-known feature is a functioning 13-metre lighthouse, built in 2008 by members of the local Hocking family, who felt every cape needed its own beacon.
Although sunset officially occurs at 5:13pm, Erika the Red will be set ablaze at 6:15pm, during nautical twilight, near Cape Clear Hall as the winter sun sinks a few degrees below the horizon.
