koombana days >online resource >chapters & endnotes >chapter 14 >endnote 14

14["Koombana Inquiry", The Sunday Times (Perth, WA), Sunday 26 May 1912, page 5]

KOOMBANA INQUIRY

A PECULIAR INCIDENT

That Wasn't Referred To

With regard to our contention that the inquiry into the loss ot the Koombana was not by any means so searching as it might have been, consider the statement of a well-known Nor'-Wester. He was living at Port Hedland the year before last when the Koombana, in common with other vessels, was carrying steel rails for the Port Hedland-Marble Bar railway during what is known locally as the willy-willy season. He states that the Koombana arrived at Hedland with a cargo consisting chiefly of such rails, of which she discharged all but 150 tons. These 150 tons, he declares, were left on board at the request of the captain of the ship in order to increase her stability on her trip to Wyndham and back. As a matter of fact, the rails were carried, not only to Wyndham but down to Fremantle, and were not landed at their destination until the ship returned to Port Hedland on her next trip northward.

It is remarkable that this incident wasn't mentioned at the inquiry. Such an unusual transaction cannot have been carried out without some record. The captain must have reported on it, and correspondence must have passed between the Port Hedland agents and the head office. Moreover, the officer of the Public Works Department in charge of the railway must have known of it, and yet none thought it necessary to place the facts before the court. Captain Reeves was sent "home" to bring the vessel out, and he commanded her on the coast for about two years, and the fact that be considered it necessary to carry a further 150 tons of dead weight as "stiffening" during the cyclone season in addition to his water ballast is significant. "The Sunday Times" is more than ever convinced that the Federal authorities should conduct an independent inquiry.