''Lalla Rookh'' (sometimes referred to as ''Lallah Rookh'' but registered with the former spelling) was an Australian wooden two-masted

ketch A ketch is a two- masted sailboat whose mainmast is taller than the mizzen mast (or aft-mast), and whose mizzen mast is stepped forward of the rudder post. The mizzen mast stepped forward of the rudder post is what distinguishes the ketch f ...

, also sometimes referred to as a

schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...

, 59 (or 60) tons. She was built on the

Bellinger River Bellinger River, an open and Breakwater (structure), trained mature wind wave, wave dominated, estuary#Lagoon-type or bar-built, barrier estuary, is located in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. Course and features Belli ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

in 1875, and named after ''Lalla Rookh'' (1823 ship), the first sizeable ship to visit

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

. The ketch ''Lalla Rookh'' was first registered in

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, by Aplin Brown & Company. ''Lalla Rookh'' was reportedly used for

blackbirding Blackbirding was the trade in indentured labourers from the Pacific in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It is often described as a form of slavery, despite the British Slavery Abolition Act 1833 banning slavery throughout the British Empire, ...

(the practice of taking people as

slave Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

s or

indentured labour Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract called an "indenture", may be entered voluntarily for a prepaid lump sum, as payment for some good or serv ...

ers from islands of the Pacific) at some point, and later for carrying

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

. She was purchased in 1886 by the timber company Rooneys Ltd. Although some newspaper reports after Cyclone Sigma in the Townsville area in January 1896 said that the schooner ''Lalla Rookh'' "with a

full load The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into weig ...

of log timber from

Cairns Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...

" was missing and thought lost in the storm, later reports revealed that she had escaped intact, and carried on carrying timber up and down the coast for a few more years. Several voyages between Townsville and Maryborough are reported between 1897 and 1898 under the command of Captain C. A. Nordstrom, most often described as a schooner, but with at least one description as a 49-ton ketch. She was finally wrecked somewhere off the Queensland coast while carrying timber between Townsville and Maryborough in December 1899. A later source, quoting

Jack Loney Jack Kenneth Loney (21 October 1925 – 13 February 1995) was an amateur Australian maritime historian who published over one hundred books and numerous newspaper and magazine articles. He was a schoolteacher and principal until his retirement. ...

, says that the ketch left Townsville for Maryborough with a crew of four, and was last seen on 22 December 1899 off

L Island South Cumberland Islands is a national park in Queensland, Australia, 831 km northwest of Brisbane. It is famous for the marine stingers which can be found in the waters of the park between October and May. Islands Islands that are protect ...

(now Scawfell Island, one of the South Cumberlands group), shortly before a

tropical cyclone A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...

struck the area. She was carrying a single passenger, William Eli Walding. A 20 January 1900 report in the ''

Brisbane Courier ''The Courier-Mail'' is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner norther ...

'' says she was last seen leaving for Maryborough, after having been anchored at the Pine Islet (one of the

Percy Isles The Northumberland Islands are a scattered island chain off the eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. Geography and history The Northumberland Islands are to the south-east of the city of Mackay roughly between the latitudes 21°S and 22 ...

) sheltering from "the same stress of weather which it will be remembered caused the wreck of the schooner ''Eclipse''". She was carrying only one passenger, and four crew. A search was undertaken by government steamers from

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. In the , the population of Rockhampton was 79,293. A common nickname for Rockhampton is "Rocky", and the demonym of Rockhampton is Rockhamptonite. The Scottish- ...

and Maryborough, but the vessel was not reported being seen afloat again, and the crew of four were presumed lost. Text may have been copied from this source, which is available under
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
licence. No trace of a wreck was reported, but months later a piece of timber was discovered on one of the

, and was identified as part of ''Lalla Rookh''. There were no survivors. She was presumed wrecked on either the

Whitsundays The Whitsunday Islands are 74 continental islands of various sizes off the central coast of Queensland, Australia, north of Brisbane. The northernmost of the islands are off the coast by the town of Bowen, while the southernmost islands are ...

or the

Cumberland Islands The Cumberland Islands form a group of 70 islands at on the Great Barrier Reef, off the coast of Mackay in Queensland, Australia. They were discovered by Captain James Cook in 1770. In 1770 James Cook (then a lieutenant in the Royal Navy) in H ...

Footnotes

References

{{reflist 1875 ships History of Queensland Ketches of Australia