Marine Life Society of
South Australia Inc.
Newsletter
September 2008 No. 358
“understanding,
enjoying & caring for our oceans”
Next Meeting
The next General Meeting will be held on Tuesday the 16th September.
This will be held at
the Adventure
Blue clubrooms
on the Patawalonga frontage at 8.00pm. Please enter via the stairs at the side
of the building. If you cannot find us on the night then phone me on 0407395566 and I will give you directions.
Our speaker will be
member Neville Skinner who will be showing another fascinating DVD.
CONTENTS
The Port MacDonnell
Jetty (and a recent visitor to the foreshore there) (Steve
Reynolds)
Information
Requests (Philip Hall)
CAPTAIN SWIGGS (& some of the ships associated with him and his family) (Part 2) (Steve
Reynolds)
Our 2009 calendar is now available. Please contact
Philip Hall on 08 82704463.
The
Port MacDonnell Jetty (and a recent visitor to the foreshore there)
by Steve Reynolds
Joan Lockwood recently sent us a photo of the Port MacDonnell jetty. She said that the jetty is “well used in summer” and that Port MacDonnell is the “crayfish capital”. She also gave us some of the jetty’s history, saying that the first pile was driven in (December) 1860 and the jetty was opened in (April) 1861. In 1863, there was a lifeboat shed added, but this is no longer standing. In its early life, it provided access to load produce via the lighters, to and from boats calling into port.
Port
MacDonnell jetty – taken by Joan Lockwood
“The Jetties of South Australia – Past and Present” by Neville Collins confirms the dates provided by Joan. It also says that the lifeboat shed built in 1863 was “at the halfway point” of the jetty. It was apparently removed, after some 94 years, in 1957.
Neville says that both the new road to Mount Gambier and the 244m-long jetty were opened on 10th April 1861. Dr Edward Wehl, a prominent businessman, who owned a flourmill in Mount Gambier, opened them both. A procession of 50 horsemen travelled from Mount Gambier to Port MacDonnell as part of the official opening.
The jetty was described as the “simplest and cheapest in the colony” in the “Register” newspaper dated 19th April 1861. Residents of Port MacDonnell petitioned for a longer jetty within six weeks of the opening. They got their way and the jetty was lengthened to 305m over the next two years. The jetty was then lengthened to 323m over the next 22 years.
It was, however, the lowest laying jetty in the state, its decking being only 1.8m above the water at low tide (see photo above). Storms caused damage to the jetty over the years and repairs were often necessary. The length of the jetty was just 300m when “The Jetties of South Australia” was published in 2005. A breakwater was built (to protect the jetty?), creating a harbour in 1975. Cray-fishing boats now moor in the harbour.
Joan said that a sea lion recently came ashore and she took some photos of it. She apparently sent a photo of the sea lion to the local “Border Watch” newspaper. The web page found at http://www.borderwatch.com.au/archives/728 (“Sea lion ashore at Port MacDonnell”, posted 1st August) said, “Reader Joan Lockwood sent us this photo of a new visitor today at Port MacDonnell.
“Apparently the male sea lion was washed ashore in a big swell and was simply too tired to venture out again. He preferred to rest on the foreshore. Joan reports, with assistance from Aaron Machado, the animal is a male sea lion, possibly up to 150kg in weight. He’s likely to head back to see after a rest. Sea lions at Port MacDonnell are fairly unusual.
“I personally have seen one seal two years running on the break water wall,” Joan said. “I first thought it was a big black Labrador dog.”
Aaron Machado is the president of Project Dolphin Safe Association. He advised Joan:
“These animals often go to sea and feed up to 10 days at a time. While at sea these animals do not sleep and are out there for feeding reasons only (unless travelling to another colony).
“Once they hall (sic) out, they will often sleep for the same amount of time they were at sea, e.g. if the animal is at sea for three days feeding, it will hall (sic) out for three days and sleep/regain energy, etc.
“Often females will hall (sic) out with their young and leave the pup at one particular spot whilst she heads back to sea and stocks up on fish and cephalopods (squid, cuttlefish and octopus, etc).
“The mother will then head back to that exact spot to retrieve her pup and move it again further down the coast until she is happy her pup is out of danger.
“This is when people must not move or attempt to move/upset the youngster as any human interaction with this animal may put in jeopardy the youngsters scent, hence its mother may reject the pup thinking its not hers as its scent has changed.
“Pups can be left by their mother for up to 10 days whilst she is feeding at sea. The best option for this animal, is to notify your location National Parks Office and/or Project Dolphin Safe on 8262 5452.
“Currently there is a ‘10 metre No Approach Zone’ in place in SA with regards to seals and sea lions on beaches/land; these guys can move very fast and do not let go if they grab hold of you until they want to. Enjoy them from a distance.”
“The Border Watch” followed this up on 3rd August with “Sightseers interfere with sea lion” (http://www.borderwatch.com.au/archives/736): -
“Sightseers at Port MacDonnell have been breaching a 10-metre exclusion zone which applies to a sea lion which came ashore on Friday. Authorities advise there is a “10 metre no approach zone” in place in South Australia regarding seals and sea lions on beaches and land.
Port MacDonnell resident Joan Lockwood told The Border Watch the exclusion zone has been breached at least twice so far. Ms Lockwood noticed tyre marks around the animal on Saturday morning. On Saturday night she reported a “disturbing phone call” that a sightseer had refused instructions to stay more than 10 metres from the sea lion.
“She replied by saying ‘I want to take a picture’, then went up to the sea lion and kicked it,” Ms Lockwood said. “I was so outraged I phoned around and contacted the National Parks and Wildlife. They are coming down on Sunday to put bunting around him and ‘no go’ warnings. I wish I knew about them earlier I would have made the call sooner.”
The sea lion is simply resting and it’s believed he will return to the water when he’s ready.
“The Border Watch” followed this up again on 4th August with “Sea lion returns to the water” (http://www.borderwatch.com.au/archives/747): -
“A sea lion which came ashore at Port MacDonnell on Friday “for a rest” returned to the water on Sunday morning. Local resident Joan Lockwood, who reported the sea lion’s arrival to authorities, told The Border Watch a 10-metre “no approach” zone was breached several times.
“The poor old thing. He just wanted to be left alone but he was prodded and poked,” Ms Lockwood said. “There were people all around him. One man let three children get up close. If the sea lion had reared and bit them he could have crushed their bones.”
Sightings of sea lions at Port MacDonnell are fairly unusual.”
Our thanks go to Joan Lockwood for her attempts to protect the sea lion whilst it was resting onshore. Thanks also for providing us with her photographs along with some of the above information. Thanks also to “The Border Watch” for their continued publication of the events regarding the sea lion.
by Philip
Hall
I often get information requests via email. Most I
answer myself but for some I need to request information from MLSSA members.
This is a typical sequence that ensues.
From: Lee-Ann Palm
Sent: Tuesday, 19
February 2008 9:29 AM
To: marinelifesa@adam.com.au
Subject: Pink
Jellyfish Aldinga Reef
Hi, the weekend of the 16th
February we were snorkeling at Aldinga Reef. The waters were full of pink
jellyfish, hundreds of them. We have become intrigued with these little
fellows. What their purpose is, is it the time of year they spawn, are
they dangerous. If you could direct me to where I could find some
information that would be fantastic. Have searched the
web with no luck.
Kind Regards,
Lee-Ann
Picture by Lee-Ann
Enhanced pic below by Philip Hall
Hi Lee-Ann, what you saw were zillions of Turritopsis nutricola, a tiny
medusa growing to 5-6 mm high with bright pink gonads. The medusa is borne on a
hydranth of a common hydroid and buds off, probably in summer. See Vol 1 marine Inverts of southern Aust p.89, and p.130
Picture on Plate 14.1. (You can buy a copy from SARDI for only $30 now!
I saw a lot myself
snorkelling off Pt Noarlunga and Carrickalinga in the last wk or so.
Scoresby
Shepherd
Dr S.A. Shepherd A.O.
Senior Research Fellow
SARDI Aquatic Sciences
PO Box 120 Henley Beach. S.A. 5022.
Another
identification.
That looks
like Raston’s Box Jellyfish (Carybdea
rastoni) to me.
And yes, it does pack a
bit of a nasty sting, if that's what it is.
I recall seeing a swarm
of them on Port Noarlunga (about 2 metres from the shore) about 9 years.
Cheers,
Tim
Sexton
And –
I’m sure someone else will have told you by now
that this is Carybdea rastoni,
our local relative of the more dangerous “sea wasp” box jelly Chironex
fleckeri of tropical waters. Carybdea
is much smaller and non-fatal, but nevertheless can deliver a very painful
sting. They are called “Jimble” in the east, but I’ve never heard a consistent
common name in use here in SA. Someone else may know.
If you google “Carybdea
rastoni” you will find heaps of information.
Regards
Geoff Mower
And so on –
It’s a Jimble, Carybdea
rastoni, a box jellyfish. See page 148 of
“Australian Marine Life” by Graham Edgar. They will appear in swarms during
summer. They give a painful sting. Keep well clear of them.
Cheers
Steve
And again –
http://www.faunanet.gov.au/wos/factfile.cfm?Fact_ID=12
http://www.marine-medic.com.au/pages/articles/pdf/carybdeaRastoni.pdf
Stephen Helps
Scoresby then commented
–
Carybdea rastoni is a slightly larger medusa (1-2 cm size). It
is almost colourless, tho
its gonads are lavender or pinkish.
It lies on the bottom by day, but in poor light swims up and down in the water column trailing long (stinging) tentacles.
It prefers sandy bottom by day,
where it lies with tentacles contracted to a few mm
size. Sometimes I have seen them in large numbers.
Originally I didn’t know
that the pic Lee-Ann attached had anything particular to do with her Q. If that
is what she saw, it doesn’t clarify the Q much, as the pic is a bit too
blurred. I cant see any jellyfish trailing tentacles, but maybe that’s what
they fuzzily are ! In which
case they are likely to be Carybdea rastoni, as there is no other small species
with long trailing tentacles just like that.
Lee-Ann, next time you
should carefully put one in a jar. Then on shore, you cd test its
tentacle-sting by drawing one across yr hand. You’ll feel it if its nematocysts
sting. (The wrist is more sensitive). An old friend of mine, Dr Southcott, who
wrote a book about stinging sea creatures used to do that, and if that didn’t
work he’d try his tongue.
cheers
Scoresby
CAPTAIN SWIGGS (& some of the ships associated with him and his family)
by Steve
Reynolds
(Part 2)
Omeo
The wooden
schooner Omeo had
been built at Sealers Cove, Port Albert, Victoria in 1858. She was a 25-ton
wooden two-masted fore and aft schooner. Her dimensions were 46’9” long, 13’
wide and 7’ deep. She had one deck and a
square stern and was carvel built.
Alexander Reid
was the schooner’s owner from July 1861 to 1873. He then purchased 246 acres of
land (at £1 per acre) near the seafront at Salt Creek, Coobowie to assist with
his trading with the schooner. Salt Creek apparently flourished as a trading
post. It became the busiest trading post on southern Yorke Peninsula.
In March 1867,
the Troubridge Island lighthouse head keeper, his wife and the second keeper
all set out in a dinghy to meet the Omeo
at Salt Creek, Coobowie on Yorke Peninsula to pick up some supplies. The third
keeper who remained at the lighthouse became anxious when the three did
not return that night. He could not see them from the lighthouse tower the
following morning, so he flew a Union Jack flag upside down as a sign of
distress. He reported the problem to some fishermen from nearby. Their search
resulted in the missing dinghy being found, containing
only the dead body of the head keeper’s wife. The missing keepers themselves
were never found.
Swiggs purchased the Omeo (from Reid?) in 1873. He then cut
her up and lengthened her to meet the requirements of trade between the Port
and Kangaroo Island. Her new dimensions were then 49 tons, 69’ long, 13’7” wide
and 7’1” deep.
She was sold to R&F Fricker in April 1891.
She was broken up and her register was closed in 1909.
(This Omeo is not to be confused with the 789-ton three-masted
barque-rigged steamer Omeo also built in 1858. She was built in
Newcastle, England. A picture of her can be seen at
According to the
web page found at
http://www.aussieheritage.com.au/listings/wa/Searwood/OmeoShipwreck/21199,
her “Engine (was) subsequently removed and extra mast fitted. She
played a major role in construction of overland telegraph to Darwin, carrying
poles and cargo up Roper River. As a four masted sailing ship she traded in
Pacific and Indian Oceans, ending career as a hulk at Fremantle. She went
ashore* in 1905.”
* (At Coogee Beach in Owen Anchorage, Cockburn
Sound.)
According to the
web page found at
http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A030170b.htm,
“In 1858 the firm (McMeckan, Blackwood & Co.)
built its first steamer, Omeo,
which brought the submarine telegraph cable for the Cape Otway-Tasmania connexion on her maiden voyage from England.” and “After
1870 a general cargo and passenger traffic developed between Melbourne and Port
Darwin, where the Omeo
had carried men and equipment for laying the submarine cable to Java. A trade
was also built up between Melbourne, Adelaide and the south-eastern ports of
South Australia.”
In 2007, the
Maritime Archaeology Association of WA published a book about the ship (titled
“Omeo”). According to the book, the ship carried 1000s of passengers and coal
& timber around Australia and all over the world. She laid the first underwater
telegraph from the mainland of Australia to Tasmania. She carried 100s of goldminers to New Zealand and Darwin. She also carried men
and stores to the Northern Territory for the first telegraph line to Asia in
1872. She became wrecked at Swan Spit Lighthouse in Victoria in 1881. She was
finally wrecked at Coogee Beach in 1905.
Another wooden
two-masted schooner called the Omeo
had been registered by JHN Ferrers*, licensed victuallers,
in Port Adelaide in 1855.
* (According to
the web page found at
http://belindacohen.tripod.com/creer/ferrers.html , “Henry (John
Henry Needham) Ferrers was licensee of the Princes Hotel from 1851 until 1857,
and part of 1858, when the license was transferred to Edwin Wallis on the 23rd
December, 1858, after the death of Henry Ferrers. The inn was in a good
position as it was adjacent to the Mundy St ferry that took workers across the
river to the patent slip of Mr Fletcher.”)
This Omeo
had been built in Melbourne in 1854 and was wrecked near Corny Point on the
Yorke Peninsula, ‘lost with all hands’ (3 men). The master of the other Omeo
(built in 1858) was questioned
about the incident and reported that wreck fragments of the schooner Omeo
had been picked up on a beach about 4 miles from Corny Point. Her register
was closed on 28th
September 1866.
According to the
web page found at
http://belindacohen.tripod.com/creer/ferrers.html , “The schooner Omeo
was registered to Henry Ferrers in 1855, and continued to operate in his wife’s
name after his death, although this could be due to a failure of the new owners
to notify the authorities of any change. In 1866 the schooner left Tumby
Bay and disappeared. It was assumed she had been overwhelmed and sunk, taking
her three man crew with her. Later wreckage was found on the southern Yorkes Peninsula that was identified as coming from the Omeo.
Omeo was a wood 2 masted schooner, 32
tons, built in 1854. It was registered in the name of JHN Ferrers at the time
of its demise.”
This web page
also says that, “Henry Ferrers died on 16 December 1858, and was buried on the
19th
December 1858, at Alberton Cemetery”.
Otter
This wooden two-masted schooner was built in Port Adelaide in 1865. She had
one deck and break, a square stern and was carvel built. Her dimensions were 37
tons, 60’ long, 16’1” wide and 5’1” deep. She was registered in Port Adelaide
to Joseph Coleman in 1865. She was lengthened in 1870 to become 43 tons, 73’5”
long, 16’7” wide and 5’2” deep. She sailed in the Port Wakefield, Dublin and
Port Parham trade and occasionally arrived from the west coast ports and
Kangaroo Island in her latter days. Captain Swiggs is said to have purchased
her for £80 in 1889. She was eventually broken up and her register was closed
in 1908.
To be continued