Visit SS Clan Ranald Shipwreck Communal Grave, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia

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Near Edithburgh are the Troubridge Shoals or shallows necessitating a light house to make it safe for shipping. A number of ships have come to grief near Edithburgh. The most famous was the Marion in 1851 but no lives were lost. Partly as a result of this the lighthouse was opened in 1856. In 1904 the Ethel was ship wrecked during a storm on the coast south of Edithburgh. It was a Norwegian barque. Only one life was lost but despite a salvage attempt the boat was blown back on shore in a second storm when it broke in two! It remains there today. The last and most significant shipwreck was the Clan Ranald which sank in January 1909. 40 lives were lost and only 24 seamen were saved. The disaster happened after the introduction of the White Australia Policy thus the British Officers were buried in the main part of the Edithburgh cemetery and the Philippino and Indian crew were buried in an unmarked mass grave at the rear of the cemetery. The 20 surviving and injured seamen were immediately deported as they contravened the White Australia Policy. After this the federal government had to change the act to allow injured and wrecked seamen to recover before being deported! In recent years a plaque naming the Asian seamen has been erected here.

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