A short history story of City of Melbourne, the first steamer with a screw propeller to come up the Brisbane River. Unfortunatly we cant find a photo of her to put with this article. .. QUEENSLAND WATERS. (By A. G. Davies). (Read at a meeting of the Historical Society of Queensland, March 31, 1936). Three Times Wrecked. A remarkable career was that of the City of Melbourne, a wooden steamer of 144 tons which came to Brisbane under the Australian Steam Navigation Company`s flag in August, 1853, with Captain Henry OReilly in command. She was the first steamer with a screw propeller to come up the Brisbane River, and it was stated in the Moreton Bay Courier newspaper at the time that her appearance caused considerable astonishment to the aborigines who, not being able to observe her mode of progression, made many inquiries as to what had become of her paddle-wheels. A few years later, the City of Melbourne was altered into a sailing vessel, and rigged as a barque. As a sailing vessel she carried the first shipment of Kanakas from the South Sea Islands to Rockhampton, Queensland in December, 1867. She had the unique experience of being three times wrecked and salved—once on Kings Island, Bass Strait, once at Newcastle, and once on the Wide Bay bar. In 1871 she was owned by E. Priddy, of Maryborough and finally, when she was the property of Pettigrew and Coy., of Brisbane, and on a voyage from Mackay to Melbourne in ballast, she was wrecked finally and completely, six miles north of the Burrum River entrance, Hervey Bay, Queensland on December 28,1873.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 06:28:46 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015