Rediscovering moments from Australia's maritime past.
It might seem strange that one of Australia’s earliest post offices was also one of its most remote. It was established on Booby Island in Torres Strait in 1835 but passing ships had already been leaving correspondence there for many years by then. Booby Island, known as Ngiangu to Torres Strait Islanders, lies about 3200Continue reading “The Post Office in the middle of nowhere”
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Most Queensland school children are taught that the first non-Aboriginal people to settle in their state were convicts and their gaolers who arrived in September 1824. But actually the first white-skinned people to live in what would become Queensland were three castaway ex-convicts who came ashore 18 months earlier. In 1823 Governor Brisbane sent theContinue reading “Thomas Pamphlett and the Remarkable Castaways of Moreton Bay”
All Australian school children learn of the Endeavour’s role in the history of Australia. Some people may have heard of the First Fleet’s flag-ship Sirius or the Investigator which Matthew Flinders used to chart much of Australia’s coastline. But, I wager few, outside Albany WA, have heard of the Amity or know of her contributionContinue reading “The Brig Amity’s Amazing Career”
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As Captain Emile Tonnessen saw the sheer granite walls of Chatham Island loom into sight, he knew his ship and crew of 12 men were in serious trouble. Unrelenting gale force wind and high seas had driven his 913-ton iron barque Mandalay North-east for the past several days, and his chart showed that should heContinue reading “The Loss of the Mandalay: Between a Rock and a Hard Place”
On 3 August 1853, the 1500-ton emigrant ship Bourneuf sank in Torres Strait as she was returning to England after bringing a human cargo of migrants to Australia. It proved a tragic end to a grim final voyage. The Bourneuf had sailed from Liverpool in May 1852 with more than 800 impoverished migrants keen toContinue reading “The Bourneuf’s Tragic Last Voyage”
Tales from the Quarterdeck