The sinking of the Noongah in 1969 was one of Australia’s worst post-war maritime disasters, and led to one of its biggest-ever searches for survivors, but the 71m coastal freighter’s final resting place had remained a mystery – until now.
Noongah, which had entered service with the Australian National Line in 1957, was travelling north from Newcastle in New South Wales to Townsville in Queensland laden with steel on 25 August when she developed a list off Stormy Cape. The wind was blowing at 70 knots with 8m seas and the ship started sinking.
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Subsequent searches involved five naval destroyers and three minesweepers, merchant vessels, seven aircraft, two helicopters and land-based searches of beaches along the coast. Only five of the 26 crew had managed to survive, however, two of them escaping by life-raft and three clinging onto a plank.
Only one body was recovered. A marine court of Inquiry concluded that rapid evacuation of the ship had contributed to the death toll.
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Now the location of the wreck has been confirmed through a collaborative project between Australia’s national science agency CSIRO, Heritage NSW and the Sydney Project. Members of the public also contributed to the project, helping to narrow down the location of the suspected shipwreck off the New South Wales coast.
CSIRO’s ship Investigator (more on this research vessel on Divernet shortly) completed a survey of the unidentified shipwreck this June, collecting high-resolution seabed mapping data and video footage that showed it sitting upright and largely intact.
“We were lucky to have favourable sea conditions for the survey, and our CSIRO technical teams were able to gather excellent bathymetry and drop-camera vision of the wreck,” reports CSIRO voyage manager Margot Hind, now that the discovery has been made public.
“The bathymetry data shows that the wreck is sitting at a depth of 170m and is approximately 71m long, with the vessel dimensions, profile and configuration matching mv Noongah,” said Hind.
“This tragedy is still very much in the memory of many in the community and we offer our condolences to families and descendants of the crew who were lost,” said CSIRO’s Matt Kimber.
“Our thoughts are also with the surviving crew-members from mv Noongah, and we hope that knowing the resting-place of the vessel brings some closure for all.”
Samir Alhafith from dive-group the Sydney Project commented that only recently has technology and diving knowledge expanded to allows wrecks at such depths to be more easily identified.
“Not only is the discovery of these significant wrecks important for the surviving sailors and families of those that perished during the tragedy but also it allows us to investigate the mystery behind the sinking,” he said.
Family-members and descendants of the Noongah crew have been invited to contact CSIRO for further details about the investigation. “We’re so pleased to continue our strong collaboration with the maritime-heritage community to assist in making these important discoveries,” said Kimber.
Also on Divernet: WHERE DID BLYTHE STAR GO? 50-YEAR MYSTERY SOLVED, UNFAMILIAR LIFE FOUND ON DEEP AUSTRALIAN REEFS, ‘GHOST-LINE COULD CIRCLE EARTH 18 TIMES’, STRANGE SHARK & AN EPOCH-SPANNING GRAVEYARD
