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FINE MUSEUM COLLECTION

Mitsubishi firebricks, Portland Maru
Object Description: Clay and stone bricks. Part of the lining of the fire compartment and boiler of the Portland Maru . Loaned by A.W. Lashmar. The Portland Maru, a steel steamship, laden with grain, listed and beached in 1935 between Cape Torrens and Cape Borda. The bricks were salvaged from the wreck in 1972.

Display board of Kangaroo Island shipwrecks entitled 'On the Rocks'
Object Description: Map of shipwrecks around Kangaroo Island. With settlement of South Australia in 1836 there was an increase in shipping around Kangaroo Island.

Cape Willoughby Lighthouse's pulley

Object Description: Metal and wood. A rope was fitted over the large bolt that goes through the metal bracket, wooden frame and metal wheel and out the other side. Cape Willoughby Lighthouse was the first in SA, built in 1852 . The pulley was used on the signal pole.

Carved wooden boat model Loch Vennachar

Object Description: Small wooden model of a ship's hull. Stained and water damaged; inexpertly carved. Donated by R.W. Murray. The Loch Vennachar was wrecked in 1905 at West Bay, Kangaroo Island. The model of the ship was washed up with other wreckage, including the stern with the ship's name on it. There were no survivors. The wreck was found in 1976 by divers.

Karatta life buoy
Object Description: There has been a ferry service to Kangaroo Island since 1882. The SS Karatta took over the ferry run in 1907 and maintained the service for 54 years until 1961. The trip from Port Adelaide normally took 6 hours but one trip in 1946 in gale conditions took 18 hours. The gale ripped the rails from the forecastle and flattened a car lashed on deck.

Porthole and Osmanli cutlery (spoon and fork)

Object Description: Porthole - A brass porthole and hinged window with T-shaped handle. Loaned by AW Lashmar, 1990. 

Cutlery - The ship's name -Osmanli- is engraved on the handles. The SS Osmanli was wrecked in 1853 in D'Estrees Bay. Crew and passengers survived. Two bars of gold were salvaged but disappeared by next morning. (Image is to be posted)

You Yangs door lock and rigging part

Object Description: Metal (probably copper plated) door/lock; steel rigging partly corroded. Donated by R.W. Murray. You Yangs was a passenger and cargo steamer operating between Sydney, Melbourne and Tasmania in 1890. Near Cape Willoughby, Kangaroo Island, the cargo of railway iron shifted causing the steamer to list. It headed back to Port Adelaide but was wrecked off Cape Gantheaume. Survivors, using the lifebuoy, reached Cape Gantheaume and Cape Willoughby, and Kingston, in the South East of SA.