Tales Of Coast's Shipwrecks Revealed

Central Coast Herald

Wednesday November 6, 2002

By PAUL CALLAGHAN

GREIG Berry was recently featured in the Herald for his work in returning to the Central Coast two anchors from the ill-fated Suffolk.

The Suffolk ran ashore off North Entrance in 1859 and the anchors found their way to a shipyard at Berrys Bay.

Local diver Jamie Speer tracked them down and he and Mr Berry launched an appeal for them to be returned to the Coast.

They now rest in the grounds of Alison Homestead at Wyong.

Such is Mr Berry's dedication to the region's maritime history.

That interest began when he and fellow underwater explorers from the Terrigal Divers Group launched a search for the wreck of SS Yambacoona.

The 30-metre timber steamer sank off Terrigal Skillion with a cargo of coal it was carrying from Newcastle to Sydney on February 24, 1917.

Eventually, after much detective work by Mr Berry, including an interview with a 101-year-old woman with recollections of the shipwreck, the Terrigal divers found the Yambacoona in 1987.

`To finally find a shipwreck for which we had been searching for three years was rewarding and it really motivated me to look for more wrecks,' Mr Berry said.

He did this successfully, finding the long-lost HMAS Swan in the muddy waters of the Hawkesbury River.

Mr Berry's work was acknowledged by NSW Minister for Planning and Housing Robert Webster with an Historic Shipwrecks Award in recognition of his contribution to Australia's maritime heritage.

In particular, the Government recognised Mr Berry's efforts in both finding and preserving the wreck of the SS Yambacoona.

In coming editions of the Herald, Greig Berry will detail the stories of the shipwrecks he has found.

Many of these have been documented in his excellent work, Shipwrecks of the NSW Central Coast.