Image 12: Kangaroo Point
SS Derwent, viewed from Howard Smith’s Wharves, Petrie’s Bight to Kangaroo Point
The iron steamship SS Derwent built in 1864 was a passenger ship between Brisbane and Melbourne. Many ships were damaged or came adrift during the 1893 floods, and often damaged the wharves they were moored to. This wharf was totally submerged at the height of the floods, and ships were floating above the tops of the shed roofs. Steam was kept up where possible to meet any emergency. This ship survived and later went on to be used as a coal hulk from 1916 on Queensland coast, until it was stripped and scuttled off Cairns in 1926.
