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25/07/2005: "SS YONGALA BELL ........ and Wally Gibbins"

Great old picture subjects keep surfacing - here is a classic moment in reconstructed marine history - when Wally Gibbins, at great personal effort, brought his heavy and recently salvaged SS Yongala ship's bell down to the jetty at Coffs Harbour for some underwater pictures to be recorded.

It will never happen again - Wally and the bell, in the water together. That is another story.

For those who don't realise it, the Yongala is a very popular and huge shipwreck off Cape Bowling Green, south from Townsville in North Queensland. The wreck was better to dive decades ago but is still very worthwhile today.

The beauty being with marine life it attracts - giant groper, sea snakes, fish galore and stingray schools. Like an aquarium oasis underwater - the wreck is in a big sandy bay with no reef nearby.

Footnote: The SS Yongala bell was sold by Wal to Townsville Maritime Museum (reportedly for less than that offered privately. $10,000 was offered from businessman Tony Flook and also from shipwreck historian John Sumner).