One of the worst shipwrecks ever in South Australian waters will be a central theme of Australia’s first ever Merchant Navy Day in Port Adelaide.
The Merchant Navy Day March along Queens wharf will finish at The Navigator Memorial, which commemorates the tragic loss of the SS Admella 149 years ago.
New Port Chaplain Robin Trebilcock will conduct a short service there and our photo
shows Keith Ridgeway from the South Australian Maritime Museum with a restorer getting
the memorial ready for September 3.
Participating in the march that will begin near Birkenhead Bridge at 11 am on September 3 will be some of the 160 people representing 44 different survivors, victims and rescuers.
All 160 are involved in "Admella 150 Festival " which will be held from Thursday August 6 to Sunday August 16, 2009.
The Navigator memorial in St Vincent Street, Port Adelaide tells the story of her destruction on Carpenter Rocks, 20 miles west of Cape Northumberland, South Australia on August 6, 1859.
The Land Management Corporation is selecting a new waterfront site for the memorial as the building behind it is being developed.
It is hoped that the move can co-incide with the the August 2009 "Admella 150 Festival".
The SS Admella was a steam ship of 209 tons (212 tonnes) also fitted with three masts and sails. Her length was 55.6 metres. She left Port Adelaide at 5.30am on Friday August 5, 1859 bound for Melbourne.
Early the following morning she ran onto Carpenter Rocks that lie a few kilometres offshore of South Australia, almost due South of the current town of Millicent.
Over the next 8 days, 89 people lost their lives but miraculously, about 24 survived, most of them hanging onto the wreck in raging winter seas for that 8-day period. There was little food and virtually no water and many acts of heroism. Learn more about the Admella story.
Many ships were wrecked along this part of the Australian coast, both before and after the wreck of the Admella, but this wreck is arguably the most famous.
It is this fame that has brought together the local Councils of the areas most impacted by the wreck, to create a series of events to mark the 150th anniversary in 2009.
Those Councils are the District Council of Grant, which includes Carpenter Rocks and Port MacDonnell, the Glenelg Shire Council, which includes the City of Portland in Victoria, the City of Mount Gambier, the Wattle Range Council, and the Robe District Council.
For more information: http://www.admella.org.au/
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