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THE SHIPWRECK AT THE GAP: NEW BOOK ON THE DUNBAR

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THE SHIPWRECK AT THE GAP: New book on The Dunbar

An enormous old anchor sits framed in an alcove on the clifftop walkway at The Gap – a memorial to a famous ship that sunk nearby. But what do we really know about it?

That’s what local author Larry Writer set out to find: “I noticed the anchor that I’d passed many times and wondered if anything had ever been written about the wreck of The Dunbar but there was nothing… in depth.”

So Larry embarked on 18 months of research – resulting in an amazing book published this month, coinciding with the 165th anniversary of The Dunbar sinking – considered one of Australia’s greatest maritime disasters.

His latest book “The Shipwreck” is packed with fascinating information on The Dunbar and and captivating stories on those who sailed on her; perished on the fateful night of August 20, 1857.

Larry details the ship’s final moments. “In the middle of a ferocious storm – the worst in living memory – The Dunbar was buffeted by enormous waves, 100km-an-hour winds and clouds obscured Macquarie Lighthouse – the captain couldn’t get his bearings.”

The Dunbar smashed into the rocks with 122 people on board. Capturing the drama of the event, Larry advises that its destruction was very quick – “It probably only took about half an hour, though it was a magnificent ship: The Dunbar was the finest of the great sailing clippers; fast, really luxurious.

“Most passengers were prominent and successful Sydneysiders who went to England to see family or work or to do the Grand Tour of Europe and were coming back after that adventure; to have travelled that distance - 20,000 km and to be wrecked on the very doorstep of their destination was just so sad,” Larry says.

Bodies, cargo and wreckage floated into many of the harbour’s beaches including Manly, Middle Harbour and The Spit, Vaucluse, and Nielsen Park.

A few days after the sinking, a funeral procession of hearses transported the bodies from the morgue at The Rocks down George Street and onto Camperdown Cemetery at Newtown. “There were 20,000 people lining the streets that day,” Larry discovered in the records. “And the population of the colony was only 57,000!” This communal burial site is still there.

The only survivor, James Johnson was able to pay the favour forward, Larry discovered. “He became a lighthouse keeper at Newcastle and actually ended up saving the sole survivor of a ship that went down there eight years later.” His brother Henry became keeper of the Hornby Lighthouse, built as a result of the shipwreck. Today the National Maritime Museum holds many items from The Dunbar. “There’s a beautiful tiny ring there, inscribed ‘In God We Trust’ which is so poignant,” Larry observes.

Described as “Australia’s Titanic”, the Dunbar disaster not only heralded big changes to navigation and maritime safety but was also a catalyst for colonial Sydney and “that self-determination I think we still have today,” Larry believes.

The Shipwreck is published by Allen & Unwin, out on August 2.

Paula Towers

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