The Cataraqui Room, which features exhibits and relics from Australia’s worst civil maritime disaster, was completed recently at the King Island Museum with the installation of a one-metre-long model of the ship.
Set up in 2020 by the King Island Historical Society, the room was created to commemorate the 175th anniversary of the vessel’s tragic shipwreck.
The King Island Historical Society, established in 1968, are the custodians of the community’s historic treasures, most of which were donated from private collections over the last seven decades.
Although images of the ill-fated ship are not known to exist, the model was constructed using nineteenth-century drawings of similar vessels, Barry Collis’s expert research, shipbuilding plans of the time, and accounts and advice received from Australian maritime and archaeological experts.
“Despite having taken several years to develop a model – from research to finding a model maker, and its construction – our quest and perseverance have finally paid off,” King Island Historical Society president Luke Agati said.
“Without the resolution and backing of our dedicated museum volunteers, this expensive and important project may have never eventuated.”
A community grant and museum admissions revenue enabled the model to become a reality. Before 2020, scattered objects from the major Australian shipwreck were located throughout the museum. The 175th anniversary prompted the establishment of a room dedicated entirely to the Cataraqui, which has become, without question, one of Australia’s most significant dedicated exhibits.
Mr Agati and Society vice-president Matthew Archer also recently received the backing of their committee to see the return of a Cataraqui object taken unlawfully 30 years ago. A picket paling, once enclosing the main mass grave that seemingly survived after 150 years, was found in the sand at the wreck site by a Hobart fossicker who was visiting the island, curiously, to locate the remains of Cataraqui victims. The fossicker returned to the main island, taking the find with him … without advising authorities and the object found its way to the Maritime Museum in Hobart.
At the time, the society asked that the picket be rightfully returned to King Island, but the request was snubbed by the Hobart Museum, despite the discovery breaching the then Shipwreck Act governing such finds. Determined to see its return to King Island, the Historical Society is asking the community to help make this happen by signing a petition which will be presented to Tasmanian Parliament soon.