Peter Rockliff was born to fish. As a boy he spent as much of his school holidays as possible with fishermen on Tasmania’s north-west coast. He later worked hard ashore to save for his first boat, the open-hulled, 25ft Alva.
In 1949 Peter travelled eastward along the coast looking for fish. He met Una Barnett who was from a well-known fishing family in Bridport and they were married soon afterwards.
The couple acquired Rowana, a 32ft vessel with a tiny cabin, and by 1954 Peter was fishing fulltime for rock lobsters (known locally as ‘crays’), flathead and scallops. He would be at sea, without radio contact, for 10 days at a time while Una looked after three children and managed the on shore operations.
Peter and Una continued to fish for scallops, lobster and sharks while building the Petuna, a 60ft steel-hulled all-purpose fishing vessel launched in 1971 that allowed them to venture further from shore and to discover previously untouched fishing grounds.
The next big step was the construction of Tasmania’s first deep sea trawler, thePetuna Endeavour, and the introduction of fishing methods that enabled them to bring in unprecedented catches. The industry pioneers soon had many followers, with trawler numbers growing rapidly from one to 60.
In 1990 the Rockliffs investigated the potential of aquaculture and acquired a 50 per cent share in a salmon and trout hatchery at Cressy and a water lease in Macquarie Harbour. Aquaculture became increasingly important to the business, further establishing the processing factory at Devonport and extending the sea cage operations at Macquarie Harbour. A smokehouse and value added facility was soon incorporated into the site at Devonport.
In 2004, Peter and Una Rockliff were each awarded an Order of Australia medal for their contribution to the fishing industry. They remain on the Petuna Board and continue to have a hands-on involvement in the day to day operations of the company.