Eyre UNID Mundrabilla (unknown)

East of Mundrabilla Station coast road, 1.5km inland

Date lost: Prior to March 1841
Location: Near Scorpion Bight
Chart Number: BA 1059
GPS position: Lat. 32º 18’ S
Long. 126º 51’ E. This is not a GPS position
Finders: Mr & Mrs A.J. Carlisle
Protection: Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976
Significance criteria: 1 & 3

THE VESSEL
Nothing is known regarding the origins and specifications of this vessel. It was first mentioned by Edward John Eyre during his expedition from Fowlers Bay in South Australia to Albany. On 29 March 1841 Eyre wrote in his journal:
For the last two or three days, we had passed many pieces of wreck upon the beach, oars, thwarts of boats, fragments of masts, spars, &c. strewed about in every direction: none of them, however, appeared to have been recently deposited there, and many of the oars, and lighter spars, were stuck up on their ends in the sand above high water mark, probably so placed by the natives, but with what object I know not. One oar was stuck up upon a high sand ridge, some distance from the shore, and I spent some time examining the place, in the vain hope that it might be an indication of our vicinity to water (Eyre, 2007).

Eyre gives no indication of the type of vessel or where it may have come from. At this time he was at approximately 126º 30’ east longitude. This is a little west of Scorpion Bight. His statement regarding the oars and spars being placed upright by the Aborigines is open to debate. They would more likely have been placed by the crew of the wrecked ship in order to attract the attention of passing vessels. There were many whaling ships sailing along the south coast during the late 1830s and early 1840s.

In 1976 John Carlisle reported the finding of material from a wreck 55 kilometres east of Eyre. This places it very close to Scorpion Bight. Mr Carlisle, who had been in that area since 1928, related a story told to him by the Aborigines regarding the wreck of a ship prior to Eyre’s expedition through their territory. A ship had been seen approaching the coast giving off smoke. A boat brought five people ashore where some lay down while others walked around. The following morning two of the men lay dead and others had dug holes in the sand. The ship drifted in to the shallow water, rolling over on to its side a little later. Within eight days another man died, and the Aborigines killed a fourth by spearing him. However, the fifth man was not killed as he had blond hair. Presumably kept by the tribe as a curio for some time, the survivor eventually went with the Aboriginal tribe who lived to the east of his captors. The Aborigines known to Mr Carlisle took him to the spot where the boat was supposed to have come ashore with the survivors. Here he found several small brass or copper nails, and about 500 m east he found the main wreckage.

This story is echoed by a similar Aboriginal legend related by W. Graham, the Eyre’s Sandpatch Telegraph Station manager during the 1930s. The story relates that before Eyre made his journey, a two-masted vessel had been wrecked about 20 miles east of the station. Five men had come ashore in a boat and attempted to contact the Aborigines. This had been unsuccessful, as had their search for water. After collecting some of the berries (noria in the Aboriginal language) growing there they left. The following morning the wreck had disappeared.

In 1859 William Jackman published his autobiography The Australian Captive. In it he claims that he sailed from Hobart on board the whaler Carib of Brixom [sic], England, and that on 28 April 1837 the ship was wrecked on the south coast nearly equidistant between Adelaide and King George Sound. This places it in the vicinity of Scorpion Bight. The vessel was commanded by Captain Thompson. Five of the crew were lost in the wreck, and Jackman became separated from the others. He then lived for some 18 months with the Aborigines in that area. The story has some aspects that are credible, and are supported to an extent by other evidence, such as the history related by the Aborigines. Jackman’s autobiography includes many verifiable facts and information that indicates he must have been in that area at some time. However, it appears that there was no vessel named Carib which departed from Hobart around that period (Henderson, 2007: 205). There was a brigantine named Carib, and it is listed in Lloyd’s between 1836 and 1839, but with no indication that it ever came to Australia (ibid.).

Jackman states that he was subsequently rescued by the Hobart owned whaler Camilla and, after continuing whaling for some months, the ship landed him at Albany on 27 June 1839. The Camilla was certainly whaling in the area during that time, having carried out eight voyages between 1838 and 1844. Jackman later walked to Two People Bay to join the Avis, an American whaler out of New London. This was wrecked in the bay during a gale (see entry); two other whalers, Harvest and Peruvian, both also at anchor, were undamaged. Both these vessels are recorded as being in the area at the time that the Avis was wrecked, having anchored at Albany in May 1842. Several days after the wreck of the Avis, Jackman signed on to the Elizabeth of New Bedford (Captain Esthman), also known to have been in the area at that time. He therefore has many facts to back his claim of shipwreck and survival. Some of his dates are incorrect, but the book was written some 17 years or more after the events so these are understandable. What is not proven is that a whaler named Carib was wrecked in April 1837.

SITE LOCATION
The wreck lies on the coast approximately 46 km south and 16 km west of Madura Roadhouse. In 1976 a wreck inspection by Scott Sledge of the Western Australian Museum located some wreckage at the low water mark in longitude 126º 51’ east, which led him to believe a nineteenth century whaler or sealer had been wrecked there some time during the early part of that century. The size of some iron deck knees indicated a vessel of about 400 tons. In 1989 Graeme Henderson led another Museum wreck inspection which reached the beach south of Madura and then travelled west along the coast. After travelling about 10 km the party found substantial wreckage, more being found at various places over the next eight kilometres.

SITE DESCRIPTION
Several iron knees lie in the intertidal zone, with at about two dozen iron hull fastenings distributed in 2 m of water just south-west of these. One knee measured 1.1 m along the horizontal leg and 1.6 m along the vertical. Another was measured to have a length of 1.8 m. All this material was heavily concreted. A 10 m length of the port side of a timber vessel with chain plates was found buried on the beach, and subsequently excavated. Other smaller timbers were located, some with treenails in place.

EXCAVATION AND ARTEFACTS
Some of the concreted hull fastenings were taken to the Western Australian Museum where one was broken open, revealing 85% corrosion.

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
HISTORIC (1)
It is presumed that the wreckage examined by Museum staff is that recorded by Eyre in 1841, and is therefore historically linked with that famous explorer.

SOCIAL (3)
The story given by Jackman raises several questions. Part of it may relate to the loss of the vessel, remains of which were seen by Eyre. Unfortunately, it is not clear what part of his story is fact, or the correct name of the vessel involved.

Iron and copper alloy fastenings, timber knee/ frame and plank visible high in sandhills 1.5km inland