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The Wreck of the H.M.S. SiriusPrint Page Print this page

14-March-2018 (Graeme Saunders)
14-March-2018 (Graeme Saunders)

Photographs supplied by Clive Muchamore / Graeme Saunders

The plaque commemorates the bicentenary of the wrecking of the HMS Sirius in Sydney Bay on the 19th March 1790. 

In October 1788, the Sirius went on a voyage back around the world to get supplies from Cape Town. The voyage home to Port Jackson very nearly ended in disaster when they encountered severe storms when rounding the south of Tasmania. When she arrived in 1789 the Sirius required a major refitting and was beached on the north side of the harbour at a place that was then referred to as Elbow Cove and Careening Cove, later Great Sirius Cove and eventually Mosman Bay.

Sirius was wrecked off the coast of Norfolk Island in the Pacific Ocean in 1790. The HMS Sirius wrecksite is protected by the Commonwealth Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976 and is listed on the Australian National Heritage List.

Location

Address:Bounty Street , Foreshore, Sydney Bay, Kingston, Norfolk Island, 2899
State:NSW
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -29.057586
Long: 167.908866
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Plaque
Monument Theme:Disaster
Sub-Theme:Maritime

Dedication

Actual Monument Dedication Date:Monday 19th March, 1990
Front Inscription
The Wreck of the HMS 'Sirius' 

On the 5th March 1790 the Governor of New South Wales Arthur Phillip sent HMS Sirius, the flagship of the First Fleet, and the HMS Supply to Norfolk Island. After a stormy passge the Sirius struck the reef in Sydney Bay on the 19th March March 1790, where, in spite of every effort made to save her, heavy seas threw her well up onto the reef to eventual destruction. 

On the 19th March 1990 at 12.00 noon, this plaque was laid by His Excellency the Honourable Bill Hayden, A. C., Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia to commemorate the bicentenary of the wrecking of HMS Sirius on the reef in Sydney Bay, Norfolk Island. 
Source: MA
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au