SS Mildura North West Cape, Western Australia, Australia
By iluvtrekking on 26-Sep-16. Waypoint GA5835

At the Memorial to the SS Mildura

On March 8th 1907 the 2,217 ton Mildura left the Kimberley port of Wyndham loaded with 498 cattle, bound for Fremantle. Four days later confronting a looming cyclone, she struck the reef off the point of North West Cape. Five of the crew and two of the passengers set out for Onslow in one of the ship’s boats – they, and the remainder of the party on board were rescued by the SS Burrumbeet. The cattle were turned loose to swim for shore less than a kilometre away but most drowned in the attempt. The Mildura was not badly damaged when wrecked and was subsequently the focus of a major salvage operation and later the hull was used for bombing practice in World War II.

The timing of the event proved crucial in persuading the State Government to add North West Cape to its list of priority location for light house construction. The outcome for the ship’s captain was not so positive – despite (or perhaps because of) having safely passed the cape on 68 other occasions he was found guilty of neglect and his masters certificate suspended for 3 months.

The cache is a medium sized black painted plastic screw top pill container.

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