The Ferry Run
In 1907 the SS Karatta provided the main ferry run to the Island. She ran for an amazing 54 years! In 1961 she was replaced by the MV Troubridge. The run from Port Adelaide normally took the Karatta 6 hours. One trip however in 1946 took 18 hours as she fought her way through a gale that tore the rails from the forecastle and flattened a car lashed on deck!

Display of Seal skins and Whale Oil
News of the discovery of Kangaroo Island spread quickly after Matthew Flinders returned to Sydney. Whalers and sealers soon made the Island a base for early maritime activities in South Australia. Groups of sealers were put ashore here to collect skins as early as 1803. They were given provisions to last a few months until their ship returned. Some chose to remain on the island and became its first white settlers.

Other early residents were men like George 'Fireball' Bates who deserted from ships or who came to avoid society. They made a living selling sealskins to passing ships. One sealer built a stone hut here at Hog Bay in the 1820s that is thought to have been the first stone building in South Australia. These men lived in rough huts, dressed in skins and 'smelt like foxes' according to one report! The availability of fresh water at Hog Bay made it a likely site for a sealers' camp.

Maritime Room: Karatta - lantern, binnacle and life buoy.


Maritime Room - Shipwreck display in front of enlarged photo of a gouache of the Shipwreck of the You Yangs. Shipwreck artefacts are in the foreground.

Some items on display include: jawbones of a whale washed up on Kangaroo Island in 1982; harpoons used in the capture of whales in Backstairs Passage (between Kangaroo Island and the mainland); a flensing tool (used to cut whale flesh from the bone); and a 'try-pot' or blubber tub (used to render down the whale blubber into oil).

The official settlement of South Australia in 1836 led to a considerable increase in shipping in the waters around Kangaroo Island. Lying at the foot of St Vincent Gulf the island had to be negotiated by all ships leaving or approaching Port Adelaide. Many ships became victims of the rugged coastline of Kangaroo Island and ended up on the rocks.