''Wyreema'' was an Australian

steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...

named after the town of

Wyreema, Queensland Wyreema is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Wyreema had a population of 1,834 people. Geography Toowoomba–Karara Road passes through the lo ...

. On 8 March 1910, Wyreema collided with and sank '' SS Currajong'' in

Sydney Harbour Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...

. Hans Neilsen, a crew member of the Currajong, died as a result. The inquest into his death found the collision was due to the culpable negligence of the Wyreema's captain, John Elliott Meaburn, and committed him for trial on the charge of

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th cen ...

. However, the New South Wales Attorney General did not proceed with the prosection. In June 1910, the Marine Court suspended Meaburn for 12 months. It was noted that he had a long and excellent record as a ship's master and there was a pilot onboard at the time of the collision, but that the presence of the pilot did not alter the master's responsibility. Wyreema was a

passenger liner A passenger ship is a merchant ship whose primary function is to carry passengers on the sea. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freig ...

that was hired to transport

Australian Army Nursing Service The Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) was an Australian Army Reserve unit which provided a pool of trained civilian nurses who had volunteered for military service during wartime. The AANS was formed in 1902 by amalgamating the nursing servic ...

nurses to Europe during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. However, with the end of the war, she was recalled from South Africa. Nurses from the ship were then volunteers at the

Woodman Point Woodman Point is a headland on the west coast of Western Australia. It is located in the Perth suburb of Coogee, south-south-west of the city centre and south of Fremantle. It extends westward into the Indian Ocean. The coastal waters immed ...

Quarantine Station in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, nursing soldiers who were

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

victims who landed from the ship '' Boonah''. In 1926, she was sold to Brazil and was renamed ''Dom Pedro I''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyreema 1907 ships Ships built on the River Clyde Iron and steel steamships of Australia