''Stirling Castle'' was launched in 1829. She wrecked in 1836 on Eliza Reef on passage from Sydney for Singapore and Manila.

Career

''Stirling Castle'' enters ''

Lloyd's Register Lloyd's Register Group Limited, trading as Lloyd's Register (LR), is a technical and professional services organisation and a maritime classification society, wholly owned by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, a UK charity dedicated to research ...

'' in 1830 with Fraser, Master, and Abrams & Co., owners, and trade

Greenock Greenock (; ; , ) is a town in Inverclyde, Scotland, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The town is the administrative centre of Inverclyde Council. It is a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, and forms ...

–Quebec. Before her fateful voyage, ''Stirling Castle'' had sailed from Greenock,

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, to the colony of

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

in 1831 with

John Dunmore Lang John Dunmore Lang (25 August 1799 – 8 August 1878) was a Scottish-born Australian Presbyterian minister, writer, historian, politician and activist. He was the first prominent advocate of an independent Australian nation and of Australian rep ...

's "mechanics" with the intention of building the Australian College and the founding members of the

Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts The Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts (SMSA) is the longest running School of Arts (also known as a " Mechanics' Institute") and the oldest continuous lending library in Australia. Founded in 1833, the school counted many of the colony's educat ...

. On the trip the mechanics set up a university to teach one another the trade and skills each one had. One family that was on board this trip was the Petrie family that became a prominent

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 ...

family after arriving in Moreton Bay penal settlement in 1837.

Loss

In 1836, ''Stirling Castle'' was under the command of Captain James Fraser.On 6 May 1829 Fraser was captain of when she was wrecked in

Torres Strait The Torres Strait (), also known as Zenadh Kes ( Kalaw Lagaw Ya#Phonology 2, �zen̪ad̪ kes, is a strait between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, ...

. She ran aground on 25 May 1836 on the

Swain Reefs Swain Reefs is a national park in North Queensland, Australia, north of Brisbane. It was established in 1995, and covers an area of 0.58 km2. It is managed by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service. Fauna Birds Nine small cays, with ...

(near present-day

Rockhampton, Queensland 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- ...

) while travelling from

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. The surviving members of the crew, including Fraser and his wife

Eliza ELIZA is an early natural language processing computer program developed from 1964 to 1967 at MIT by Joseph Weizenbaum. Created to explore communication between humans and machines, ELIZA simulated conversation by using a pattern matching and ...

, managed to journey to the nearby

Fraser Island K'gari ( , ), also known by its former name Fraser Island, is a World Heritage-listed sand island along the south-eastern coast in the Wide Bay–Burnett region of Queensland, Australia. The island lies approximately north of the state capi ...

(which at that time was known as Great Sandy Island) where they camped for several days before being taken captive by the local

Butchulla The Butchulla, also written Butchella, Badjala, Badjula, Badjela, Bajellah, Badtjala and Budjilla, are an Aboriginal Australian people of K'gari, Queensland, and a small area of the nearby mainland of southern Queensland. Language The Butchul ...

group of

Aboriginal people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

, who took from them their clothes and belongings and used them for forced labour. James Fraser died while in their captivity (accounts differ as to whether he died due to starvation, or as a result of being speared), however, Eliza Fraser, who had been subjected to "the most terrible and revolting sufferings" and some members of the crew were later rescued by a Lt. Charles Otter. ''

Lloyd's List ''Lloyd's List'' is one of the world's oldest continuously running journals, having provided weekly shipping news in London as early as 1734. It was published daily until 2013 (when the final print issue, number 60,850, was published), and i ...

'' reported on 14 March 1837 that ''Stirling Castle'', Fraser (late), master, had been totally lost on Eliza Reef.

Eliza Fraser Eliza Anne Fraser (née Slack; – 1858) was an English woman known for being shipwrecked at K'gari, an island off the coast of Queensland, Australia, on 22 May 1836. After being rescued from the island, she spoke and wrote of her experiences, ...

later returned to the United Kingdom, where in England her services as a storyteller proved to be very much in demand, and she became a celebrity due to her ordeal. As a result of her association with Great Sandy Island, it was by the 1880s known as

, though it is still known as K'gari by the Butchulla. The island and the locality of Fraser Island, Queensland were officially renamed K'gari in 2023.

Notes

Citations

References

*Alexander, Michael, ''Mrs Fraser on the Fatal Shore'' (Michael Joseph, 1971) *

External links

Colonial Secretary's papers 1822-1877

State Library of Queensland State Library of Queensland (State Library) is the state public reference and research library of Queensland, Australia, operated by the Government of Queensland, state government. The Library is governed by the Library Board of Queensland, whi ...

- Reel 7 includes digitised documents and witness statements relating to the investigation into the Castle Rock Crash {{1836 shipwrecks Shipwrecks of Queensland Brigs of Australia 1829 ships Maritime incidents in May 1836