150th anniversary service for wreck of the Dunbar

Anglican Diocses of Sydney media advisory on behalf of St Stephen's Anglican Church Newtown

Memorial service for the 150th anniversary of the wreck of the Dunbar

In the presence of her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC, Governor of New South Wales, with the Mayor of Marrickville and other dignitaries, a Memorial Service for the 150th Anniversary of the wreck of the ship Dunbar in Sydney Harbour on 20th August 1857, will be held in St Stephen's Church Newtown, on Sunday 19th August at 10.00am. The church is located at 189 Church Street Newtown.

It was a wild and stormy night in August 20th 1857 and the Dunbar went down while trying to enter Port Jackson. The tragedy was not discovered until well into the next day when cargo, wreckage and bodies began to wash ashore. 121 passengers and crew perished. Only 1 survived.

For the young colony this disaster affected a number of families, creating such an outpouring of grief that businesses and Parliament closed as 20,000 people lined the route of the funeral procession. The bodies washed ashore were interred at St Stephen's Cemetery, Camperdown, where even now, 150 years later, there remain monuments to their memory.

After a brief service in the historic church, people will move to the memorial in the cemetery surrounding St Stephen's, where the 121 names of those who died will be read out, to the tolling of a bell.

Former Coroner of NSW, and a direct descendant of one family who perished, Mr Kevin Waller, and also the Curator of the National Maritime Museum, who has written a book on the Dunbar, will both be interviewed.

Members of the public are warmly invited to attend.

CONTACT:
Marcelle Rodgers 02 9557 2043
Margaret Rodgers 0411 692 499

Media are invited to film, record and photograph the service at the events at St Stephen's Church, Newtown