Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It has come to my attention through local divers and fishermen in my electorate that a ship, the Shin Sanyo Maru, which was awaiting entry to Newcastle Harbour, was anchored around 3½ kilometres off Catherine Hill Bay, which is in the Shortland electorate. The issue surrounding this ship is not that it was waiting to get into the harbour; rather, that it was anchored over a historic wreck, the wreck of the tug Advance, one of 7,000 historic shipwrecks around Australia. Mr Deputy Speaker, I will give you a little history of Advance. It sunk at 6.15 on Christmas Day in 1908. It had gone out to bring the Iverna, a four-masted barque, into Newcastle Harbour. It was east off Catherine Hill Bay, seven nautical miles south-west of Nobbys. It was a calm day but, just as the tug threw its line across to the ship, a strong swell came up and the tug capsized, the boiler blew up and the tug sank. Lifebuoys were thrown from the Iverna to help the eight crewmen who were on the tug. The Iverna proceeded to Newcastle but, unfortunately, seven of those eight crewmen died. The second mate, Willis, was washed up on Redhead Beach—which is also in the Shortland electorate—and wreckage was washed up on Newcastle and Merewether beaches. The other seven sailers were never found. So the wreck is quite historic and should be preserved.

When I was looking into the issue of this wreck, I found that there is a lot of uncertainty about where these wrecks are located around our coastline. The Heritage Council of New South Wales has a shipwreck atlas but it is not a detailed map of where the wrecks are. The federal heritage department knows where some are but does not have the full picture. It is the responsibility of the federal department, but some responsibility has been delegated to the New South Wales Heritage Council. Because of this uncertainty about responsibilities and because of the lack of information, these historic wrecks are in danger of being destroyed; they are danger of being lost forever. What happens is that the masters of visiting ships are given inadequate information on where the wrecks are—and given what I have just told the House you can see why it is inadequate. No-one knows. I think some urgent action is needed to get around this problem. I have to say in relation to the Shin Sanyo Maru that the agents, NYK, were very responsible and acted in cooperation with the Newcastle Port Authority when it was found that the ship was anchored over the wreck. But the issue is much bigger than that.

What I propose to the House today is that we see some certainty. Maybe the state and federal governments can get together to talk about this issue, because it is part of our history and it is part of the heritage of this island nation we live in. I would like to suggest—and I have spoken to the member for Hinkler about this also—that, at the next ministerial council meeting, the minister, with his state counterparts, form a state and federal mapping committee to look at the issue of historic wrecks. In addition to that, I will be writing to the minister, because in an area such as the one I live in and in the electorate I represent there are many wrecks off the coast. In fact, there are 500 wrecks off the coast of the area I live in, so I think we need to act on this. We need to protect our history and the heritage of the area.