Posted on May 9, 2009, 9:09am Wooden beams taken from the storm-damaged Beachport jetty last year are now being transformed into icons which will
be erected at 21 sites from Beachport to Portland to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the tragic sinking of the SS Admella near Carpenter Rocks. Grant District Council’s Admella advisory committee has given three Mount Gambier West Rotary Club members the task of preparing the icons out of rustic-looking beams. Basil Mewett, Bob Chapman and Barrie Whennan, who are well known for various charity fundraising efforts in the community, are helping to produce the Admella icons which will stand about two metres high and bear an information plaque with the Admella story and a metal anchor and sail emblem at the top. The Admella 150th anniversary will start in August with a commemoration event during which the sinking of the Admella will be mirrored. The SS Admella was sailing from Adelaide to Melbourne when it struck a reef off Carpenter Rocks on August 6, 1859. A design fault in its iron hull caused the ship to break into three after only 15 minutes, leaving passengers and crew clinging to the wreckage with minimal water and food.
Attempts to reach land, which was within sight, were fruitless and people were swept out to sea or drowned in the boiling surf.