Submerged: Stories of Australia’s Shipwrecks on show at Port Macquarie Library

The refrigerated cargo vessel was torpedoed the next day by a Japanese submarine north of Point Plomer.

The Wollongbar II sank very quickly.

The T Radley and Sons’ fishing trawler XCLR from Port Macquarie rescued the five survivors. There were 31 casualties.

The Wollongbar II shipwreck features in a travelling exhibition. The display is a collaboration by the Australian National Maritime Museum and the Australian Maritime Museums Council.

The exhibition, Submerged: Stories of Australia’s Shipwrecks, is on show at Port Macquarie Library during April.

Mid North Coast Maritime Museum president Jan Howison said the museum was very fortunate to be asked to enter into the telling of shipwreck stories and be represented in the exhibition.

Port Macquarie MP Leslie Williams said our coastline had a myriad of shipwrecks.

“This is really fantastic to have this exhibition here [at the library] and I will certainly be encouraging the community to come and have a look up until the end of April to read more about the stories,” she said.

Cec Radley told the story of the Wollongbar II during the travelling exhibition’s launch on April 5.

Nancy Karas from the Southern Highlands was among the guests at the launch.

Nancy’s great uncle Charlie Clargo Mills, a marine engineer, died when the Wollongbar II was torpedoed.

The Wollongbar II sits in 30 fathoms of water north of Point Plomer. 

A room is dedicated to the shipwreck at the Port Macquarie base of the Mid North Coast Maritime Museum.