Historical background, search and discovery of the inter-colonial steamship SS Rodondo (1878-1894)

The 1,119 tonne, schooner-rigged single-screw inter-colonial steamship SS Rodondo was one of Australia’s finest coastal steamships. Between 1892 and 1893 the Western Australian gold rushes at Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie saw thousands of hopeful gold seekers from the east coast of Australia head west to  eek their fortunes. Most travelled by sea, landing at Esperance, Albany or Fremantle, then walked inland several hundred kilometres to the goldfields.

 

East coast steamship companies hurriedly diverted their ships from their regular routes to steam to Western Australia to cater for the booming passenger and cargo trade. On its first voyage to Western Australia, on 5 October 1894, SS Rodondo struck Pollock Reef in the Archipelago of the Recherche, sinking in deep water with the loss of between four and eight lives.

 

The wreck was discovered on the 29th of November 2024, during a survey carried out as part of an expedition by a team of underwater cinematographers from the Disney+ documentary series Shipwreck Hunters Australia and maritime archaeologists from the Western Australian Museum.