Today is the 100th anniversary of the tragic sinking of the passenger ship SS Yongala in a cyclone off Australia with the loss of 122 lives.
CAIRNS tourism pioneer Charles Woodward is today heading for the shipwreck that claimed the life of his great grandmother Mary – and all her fellow passengers – exactly a century ago.
Expedition photo gallery at facebook.com/cairnscomau
100 years ago tomorrow, the passenger cruiser SS Yongala was approaching Mackay on route from Melbourne to Cairns on its 99th voyage in Australian waters.
On March 23, 1911, disaster struck. The Yongala steamed into a cyclone and sank south of Townsville with the loss of all 122 people on board.
Tragically, a Marconi wireless that would have alerted the Yongala to the cyclone arrived from England shortly after the disaster.
To commemorate this tragic event, Woodward has chartered the M.V Sea Esta to visit the Yongala on the anniversary.
Thanks to Irwin Bryan for passing along the article.