Australia’s most famous shipwreck – the loss of HMS Sirius – happened on the 19th March 1790 here on Norfolk Island. The Sirius was the flagship of the First Fleet and, when the terrible news reached Governor Phillip in Port Jackson, he was appalled – “You never saw such dismay as the news of the wreck occasioned among us all … we looked upon her as our sheet anchor”. 

In the previous year, the Sirius had undertaken a perilous journey around the world. From Australia it had sailed west and around the Horn. It took on supplies at Cape Town and then returned to Port Jackson in time to save the new settlement from starvation. By March 1790, the New South Wales settlement was again in dire straits and so Governor Phillip decided to send both the Sirius and the Supply to Norfolk Island with about 200 convicts and provisions.

Norfolk Island by this time was producing more food than it required. Having off-loaded the convicts at Cascade on the 13th March, the two ships were driven out to sea by a storm. They came back into Sydney Bay on the 19th March and attempted to unload provisions. The wind and tide turned suddenly. The smaller, more agile Supply got out of the bay, but the Sirius was driven backwards on to the reef. 

Almost 200 years later, under the auspices of the Australian Bicentennial Authority, a project was mounted to recover what was left of the Sirius. This array of relics is now on display in the Norfolk Island Museum’s Pier Store.