SS Oakland wreck

The wreck

The bow still sits upright, and the boiler and other parts of the ship can be explored. Sand covers much of the site, and scattered debris lies around it. There is no penetration. An underwater memorial sign marks the site.

What lives here

The wreck draws schools of yellowtail scad and pomfret, with wobbegongs, fiddler rays, cuttlefish, eels, catfish, bullseyes and nudibranchs. Kingfish and bonito pass by.

History

The Oakland was a 47-metre single-screw steamer built at Dumbarton, Scotland, in 1890 for the New South Wales coastal trade. On 27 May 1903 she left Newcastle for the Clarence River loaded with coal and stone blocks. In a severe gale off Port Stephens her cargo is thought to have shifted. She took on a heavy list, could no longer be steered, and sank near Cabbage Tree Island.

The captain and ten or eleven others died; records differ on the exact number. Seven survivors were picked up from a damaged lifeboat by the steamer Bellinger hours later.

Protected site

The Oakland is a protected historic shipwreck under Commonwealth law. Look but don’t take anything: crockery, bottles and coal on the site must stay where they are.