7 Mile Beach (Dongara) wreck—Margaret Ann (c.1960)

Author/s Ross Anderson and Michael McCarthy

Year of publication 2018

Report Number: 328

On 31 January 2018 Aletta Buschenschutt reported a small wooden wreck lying just 30 metres offshore the 7 Mile Beach carpark, north of Dongara. On 9 February 2018 WA Museum staff were accompanied by Aletta on a survey of the wreck. The team took measurements and recovered diagnostic materials including mammal bone and a planking timber sample for further analysis to assist in dating and identifying the site. Historical research was assisted by media publicity about the find, and contact with members of the local cray fishing community, who described a number of wrecks in the 7 Mile Beach area. The site was identified as most likely that of the Margaret Ann LFB D16, lost in the early 1960s when it sank at its moorings at 7 Mile Beach.