Loss Of The Rover
On 12 October 1841 The Rover "running before a storm with her sales in ribbons and her poles bare" swung around the north end of Broulee Island and was expected to anchor in the obvious shelter in the island's lee. However, she anchored not far off the mouth of Candlagan Creek. Captain Stevenson, a Jervis Bay whaler, took a boat to warn Captain Florance to move to safe haven, but to no avail. At three o'clock the next morning The Rover was aground on the rocks in pounding surf in a southerly gale. The European locals organised a human chain, local aboriginals went to the seaward end. As each man jumped from the vessel the chain rushed into the trough of the sea and grasped him. Ten men and two bodies were brought ashore in that way.
On board had been eight seamen, three soldiers and eleven convicts bound for Gabo Island to build a lighthouse. The bodies of eleven of the victims were found and buried, probably behind the sand dunes on the south side of The Creek.
Captain Oldrey, the local magistrate, sought an official reward for the aboriginals but this was rebuffed. So at his own expense he supplied them with brass breastplates that were engraved with the outline of a sailing ship and the name of the wearer, they were 'Warragul Tom', 'Jerry, Chief of Broulee', 'Broulee Billy' and 'Boulbee'. Across the centre the words "Bale me jarrad" (I'm not afraid) were followed by an acknowledgement that it was presented by Captain Oldrey "for bravery in gallantly rescuing passengers and crew from the wrecked ship Rover".
We think "Well done Captain Oldrey!"
Sixty years later, The Australian Town and Country Journal NSW of 5 October 1901 reported:
"Interesting Discovery of a Wreck
The Schooner Rover
The remains of the wreck of the schooner Rover are interesting, if only on account of the example of the durability of Australian timber they afford, since the vessel's hull (constructed of colonial hardwood) is in a perfect state of preservation. The relics illustrated were washed up during the recent heavy weather after lying buried in the sand for sixty years. The crew of the Rover (a vessel of 120 tons), consisted of the master (Nathaniel Florance), the mate and six men, the passengers being eleven prisoners of the Crown under a military escort of a sergeant, two privates, and a drummer of the 28th Regiment. Of the twenty-three persons on board at the time of the wreck, only eleven were saved, and their rescue was apparently due to the gallantry of the aborigines in the neighbourhood.
The relics, apart from the hull, included three muskets, a telescope, two spades and four feet of chain.
On board had been eight seamen, three soldiers and eleven convicts bound for Gabo Island to build a lighthouse. The bodies of eleven of the victims were found and buried, probably behind the sand dunes on the south side of The Creek.
Captain Oldrey, the local magistrate, sought an official reward for the aboriginals but this was rebuffed. So at his own expense he supplied them with brass breastplates that were engraved with the outline of a sailing ship and the name of the wearer, they were 'Warragul Tom', 'Jerry, Chief of Broulee', 'Broulee Billy' and 'Boulbee'. Across the centre the words "Bale me jarrad" (I'm not afraid) were followed by an acknowledgement that it was presented by Captain Oldrey "for bravery in gallantly rescuing passengers and crew from the wrecked ship Rover".
We think "Well done Captain Oldrey!"
Sixty years later, The Australian Town and Country Journal NSW of 5 October 1901 reported:
"Interesting Discovery of a Wreck
The Schooner Rover
The remains of the wreck of the schooner Rover are interesting, if only on account of the example of the durability of Australian timber they afford, since the vessel's hull (constructed of colonial hardwood) is in a perfect state of preservation. The relics illustrated were washed up during the recent heavy weather after lying buried in the sand for sixty years. The crew of the Rover (a vessel of 120 tons), consisted of the master (Nathaniel Florance), the mate and six men, the passengers being eleven prisoners of the Crown under a military escort of a sergeant, two privates, and a drummer of the 28th Regiment. Of the twenty-three persons on board at the time of the wreck, only eleven were saved, and their rescue was apparently due to the gallantry of the aborigines in the neighbourhood.
The relics, apart from the hull, included three muskets, a telescope, two spades and four feet of chain.
The accompanying illustrations held by the National Library in digital form are not of high quality but are reproduced here just the same:
Three old muskets and a telescope Three old spades and four foot
recovered from the wreck of chain recovered set in coal.
Photos from the digital holdings of the National Library of Australia.
recovered from the wreck of chain recovered set in coal.
Photos from the digital holdings of the National Library of Australia.
After only a short stay on the beach The Rover apparently decided it had visited for long enough, and when the next storm came it washed back out to sea never to be seen again.