THE Cataraqui shipwreck memorial and grave site on King Island becomes the first shipwreck site with a land-based element to be entered on the Tasmanian Heritage Register.
The site was nominated for registration by King Island resident and RSL Sub branch vice president Gary Barker.
While the registration process took longer than he had expected, the protection of an important piece of Tasmania’s maritime history was ultimately achieved.
A former ACT Heritage Council member, Mr Barker recognised the broader significance of the site to Tasmania’s maritime history soon after arriving on the island in 2016 and the island’s 175th shipwreck commemoration committee supported his offer to submit a heritage nomination as an individual.
The basic principles and procedures to be followed in the conservation of Australian heritage places was ratified in the South Australia mining town of Burra in 1979 by the Australian chapter of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), which was founded in France almost 60 years ago.
States and Territories have adopted or refer to the Burra Charter, including Tasmania, which established the Tasmanian Heritage Council through legislation.
Until recently there were four permanent registrations for King Island: Cape Wickham Light Station, Currie Harbour Light House, Lighthouse Keeper’s Residence (now the Museum), and the Naracoopa Jetty.
We now have one more and it was listed as a Case Study in the Tasmanian Heritage Council Annual Report 2022-23, issued by the Government last December. Titled “A Unique Entry to the Register.”
There are 12,103 Tasmanian places listed on the Heritage Register.
Mr Barker’s interest in heritage started as a child.
“As a young child I was fascinated by steam locomotives,” he said.
“Throughout my time in the army, I would often come across old machinery and in the 1990s I restored a 1926, 10-ton steam roller.
“I was made an honorary life member of the Evandale History Society for my voluntary research work on the 1835 – 1837 Evandale to Launceston Water Supply Scheme, now listed on the Tasmanian Heritage Register.”
After leaving the army, Mr Barker became a senior lecturer in civil engineering at the University of New South Wales in Canberra, where his interest in heritage, history and research on Tasmanian topics dramatically increased but his fight for heritage sites began in the ACT.
“I was invited to become the engineering member of the ACT Heritage Council and was also the Chair of the ACT Engineering Heritage Panel, a special interest group of Engineers Australia,” he said.
“In 2005, the ACT Government closed the historic Tharwa Bridge, with plans to build a new concrete bridge. It was the first and only Allan four-span truss bridge constructed.
“With two retired ex-NSW government engineers, we lobbied at the Prime Ministerial level to retain the bridge and became the Peer Review Group to the ACT Government Bridge Design Team. Suffice to say, the Allan Truss bridge is in use.”
Former King Island Historical Society president Sue Fisher contacted Mr Barker after an ABC Radio interview when he was researching the Tasmanian Public Works Department while living in NSW.
“Sue put me in touch with Micky Barker (no relation) and Athol Hill to complete oral history interviews with them,” Mr Barker said.
“Dick Fisher and Athol showed me the Cataraqui site. I immediately wrote about the place and, in 2020, those words formed the lead in for the site’s heritage register nomination: “The place remains largely unchanged since 1845, apart from some farm fences and memorials. Nothing remains of the wreck and the graves in the adjacent sand dunes are unmarked, as early fencing was destroyed by bushfires.
“The remoteness of the place and the wild weather still experienced there provide an aesthetic value in the beauty of nature at its wildest. Conversely, the place provides a deep, moving, spiritual value of the fear and hopelessness that the passengers, mainly families with young children, would have experienced knowing death was imminent. They were within two days of arriving in Melbourne.”
In 2016, Mr Barker, and local Parks Rangers were concerned with the state of the signage at the Cataraqui site, vehicles were driving on the grave sites, and a covenant had not been placed on the private property title when the Lion’s Club Monument was erected.
A property sale was on the cards and a developer had indicated a desire to build accommodation within the vicinity. Concerned, Mr Barker commenced a private submission for registration of the site by the Heritage Council. A number of criteria needed to be satisfied to prove the significance of the place.
The submission nomination was made in February 2020 and Mr Barker was hopeful that it would have been accepted in time for the 175th anniversary commemoration in July of that year. After regular emails and follow-ups, he received the news that it was going to the Heritage Council in mid-2023 with a positive recommendation.
“Seven years of pro bono work had been successful and the site is now protected by Heritage Legislation.”
As anticipated, the land previously owned by Harold Sullivan was sold. Heritage staff contacted the new owner advising that he was able to appeal the registration but, to the best of Mr Barker’s knowledge, no appeal was made.