Admella Shipwreck Reward and Relief Fund

Minutes and miscellaneous papers, including letters and telegrams relating to the wreck and rescue attempts, miscellaneous statements made by passengers, minutes of the Admella Reward and Relief Fund with lists of subscriptions, financial papers and receipts in relation to the wreck.

The SS Admella was an iron hulled ship which was on its way from Adelaide to Melbourne when it hit a reef off South Australia's southern coastline on Saturday 6 August 1859. It took several days for two seamen who had made it to shore to then walk the 20 miles to the Cape Northumberland lighthouse.  The lighthouse keeper borrowed a horse and rode to Mt Gambier to raise the alarm.  Information then had to be telegraphed to Adelaide and Portland, Victoria.  Two rescue boats were sent out, the Corio from Adelaide and the Ladybird from Portland. The Corio wasn't able to reach the wreckage until Wednesday of that week.  Twenty survivors were still clinging to the wreckage. Most of the Admella's passengers and crew had already drowned in the heavy seas or died of thirst or exhaustion.

It took another three days, eight days after the shipwreck, for the lifeboat, Portland, working with the Ladybird, to crash through the heavy seas to complete the rescue. Repeated attempts  by the two larger ships had failed. In total, 89 lives were lost, including several of the rescuers. Women, men and children died. Families were destroyed. Working men lost the tools of trade, which also meant the loss of their livelihoods. 

Following the establishment of the first Admella Relief Fund on 27 August 1859, other communities throughout South Australia and Victoria established committees to raise money to assist the survivors and reward their rescuers. Money was collected in churches and in pubs, through District Councils and through responsible individuals. Sums donated ranged from 10 pounds to several of just one shilling. People gave what they could afford. All of the survivors received varying degrees of assistance from the fund.

Among the rescuers, the Portland lifeboat crew were rewarded as follows: Captain Fawthrop received a gold medal and 100 pounds; Coxswain W Rosevear recieved a silver medal and 50 pounds; and the 13 crew were given medals and amounts ranging between 12 pounds 10 shillings and 25 pounds.

A positive result of the wreck of the Admella was the rapid establishment of a lifeboat service in South Australia.

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