Restored in the 1980s, she served as a restaurant ship in Newcastle in the 1990s, and in 2000 was moved back to Sydney and open to the public at Darling Harbour.

[4] The South Steyne was designed by Walter Leslie Dendy and John Ashcroft and built from 1937 to 1938 by Henry Robb Ltd. of Scotland.

South Steyne is a double-ended, double-screw steamship powered by a 2,420-kilowatt (3,250 hp) four cylinder Triple expansion steam engine.

Patronage was growing steadily in the 1930s and to increase fleet capacity and vessel speed the Port Jackson Co. ordered a new ferry boat.

[4] In December 1936 the General Manager of the Port Jackson Co., Walter Leslie Dendy went to Britain to study sea transportation, propulsion techniques and to order a new ferry.

[citation needed] The contract was awarded to the Scottish shipbuilder Henry Robb Ltd in Leith, Scotland for a steam reciprocating ship.

The keel of the vessel was laid at Robb's Leith Yard in October 1937, and the SS South Steyne was launched on 1 April 1938.

Along with the other Manly ferries, during the Second World War, the South Steyne's white sections were painted a dark green to prevent it being seen at night.

[citation needed] The South Steyne also was used to follow the start of the Boxing Day Sydney to Hobart yacht races out to sea.

On 29 September 1970, South Steyne collided with the moored aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne while avoiding a cluster of sailing craft.

Her engines used three times the fuel of the other two remaining Manly ferries - the significantly smaller diesel-electric powered Baragoola and North Head.

[13][10] On 25 August 1974, while she was moored at Balmain Wharf waiting to be surveyed under a government option to buy, a fire[13] damaged the fan room, middle stairway, seats and paintwork on the upper promenade deckhouse above.

[citation needed] Negotiations with the Public Transport Commission took place to allow the ferry to run two return, peak-hour services to Manly, Monday to Friday.

[citation needed] The South Steyne passed through a number of ownerships with intermittent conservation and restoration work being undertaken.

[15][16] The vessel's owner, Brian McDermott, has been funding repairs and maintenance from the restaurant's takings, but his business is on hold until Transport for NSW can find a new berth.

[18][19] "The South Steyne was the best known of the Manly ferry line which played a major role in the suburbanisation of Sydney and in the development of its recreational patterns.

)[4]" The following modifications were made since her construction:[4] The South Steyne features in Clive James’ poem Manly Ferry as he reflects on his Sydney childhood in the 1940’s.