The Wreck of the Malabar – Long Bay – 2 April 1931 – The Ship That Gave a Suburb Its Name

Early on the morning of Thursday 2 April 1931, in a thick sea fog, the Burns Philp motor ship Malabar ran straight onto the rocks under the northern headland of Long Bay, south of Maroubra. Nobody died. All 28 passengers and the crew got ashore in the lifeboats in about half an hour, and three stud horses swam for it. The only casualty was the ship's cat, which wouldn't leave. The surf broke the Malabar up within days, and over that Easter weekend Sydney turned out in its tens of thousands, some say hundreds of thousands, to watch, picnic and pick cargo off the rocks. Two years later the locals, sick of living in a place named after a gaol, had their suburb renamed after the wreck. That's why we call it Malabar today.

The MV Malabar hard aground under the northern headland of Long Bay, April 1931. Australian National Maritime Museum on The Commons, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

I've always found it a funny bit of Sydney history. Most suburbs get their names from a governor, a landowner or an English village. Malabar got its name from a shipwreck, and from a captain who kept his speed up in the fog. Here's the whole story, from the shipyard in Glasgow to the rusty engine block divers still swim around today.

The Ship

Burns Philp's first motor ship

Burns, Philp & Company was started by James Burns and Robert Philp in April 1883. It grew into one of the big Australian trading and shipping lines of the South Pacific, running ships and stores right through the islands and up to Asia.

The old Burns Philp building in Sydney, headquarters of the company that owned the Malabar. Sue mcarthur, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

In the early 1920s shipowners were working out that motor ships, driven by diesel engines, made more sense than steamers. With no coal bunkers there was a lot more room for cargo. Michael McFadyen, the Sydney diver who's researched the wreck more than anyone, writes that Burns Philp ordered its first motor ship in 1924 to replace the Montoro on the Java to Singapore run. She was launched from the West yard of Barclay, Curle and Company at Scotstoun in Glasgow on 9 July 1925, a date the Randwick Council history gives as well.

The Malabar in her prime: Burns Philp's first motor ship, 4,512 tons, built in Glasgow in 1925. State Library of Queensland, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

She was named Malabar, and here the sources part ways a bit. The Australasian Underwater Cultural Heritage Database, the Dictionary of Sydney and McFadyen all say the name came from a small town in Java, south of Bandung. Wikipedia's Malabar suburb article says it came from the Malabar region of Kerala in India, the old spice coast. McFadyen adds a nice bit of trivia: nearly all of Burns Philp's ships had seven-letter names starting with M.

What she was like

McFadyen gives her particulars from Lloyd's Register:

• She was 350 feet long and 48 feet 6 inches wide, and measured 4,512 gross tons.
• Her engine was an eight-cylinder Burmeister & Wain type diesel of 2,700 horsepower, built by John G. Kincaid and Company and driving a single screw. It gave her a top speed of 13.2 knots.
• She had berths for 156 passengers in one, two and four berth cabins.
• She had five cargo holds plus insulated holds for fruit and frozen meat, 202,920 cubic feet in all.
• She carried 602 tons of oil fuel.
• She had an exhaust gas boiler built into the funnel, which ran a small steam engine for the ship's domestic needs. McFadyen says she was the first ship fitted out that way.

Things didn't start well. On her trials in the Firth of Clyde in October 1925 her steering failed and she rammed the Wemyss Bay railway pier. McFadyen calls it "an ominous sign of things to come".

The Singapore run

She left Avonmouth on 17 October 1925 with 2,188 tons of cargo and 17 passengers, and reached Sydney on 17 December 1925. McFadyen says she was the first motor ship working the east coast of Australia. Her first Singapore voyage left Sydney on 2 January 1926 and called at Brisbane, Townsville, Thursday Island, Darwin, then Surabaya, Semarang and Batavia in Java. Her regular run was Singapore to Melbourne and back, with a call at Port Moresby every three or four months.

The crew was a real mix. The cooks were Chinese, the engine room hands and cleaners Indian, the deckhands Malay, and the officers white. She had her share of colour in those five years. In April 1926 Customs found 100 tins of opium hidden in egg containers in her galley. In 1927 a crewman was caught trying to smuggle out 24 painted finches hidden in a pair of ladies' bloomers. And in 1926 she carried the overland driver Francis Birtles and his Oldsmobile back to Melbourne after his record run to Darwin.

Burns Philp's wharf 7 on Hickson Road, Walsh Bay, in 1949. NSW State Archives, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

By 1931 her days on the Singapore run were numbered anyway. Under a 1929 mail contract Burns Philp had promised a new ship for the route, the Macdhui, and planned to move the Malabar onto the Sydney to Rabaul run.

The Last Voyage

Leaving Melbourne

Burns Philp ships on the Singapore run swapped some of their crew at Sydney. A relief crew took the ship down to Melbourne and back, and Captain George William Leslie often relieved her regular master for those trips. Underwater Australasia says he was 71 at the time, with an unblemished record as a master and harbour pilot.

On 31 March 1931 the Malabar left Melbourne under Captain Leslie, bound for Singapore with Sydney as her first port of call. According to the inquiry's statement of the case, quoted by McFadyen, she carried 109 officers and crew and 28 passengers. McFadyen counts 63 Chinese and 26 Malays among the crew. It was her 32nd trip. She also carried three valuable stud horses bound for Darwin.

Into the fog

McFadyen's account of the morning goes like this:

• At about 6.35am on 2 April she passed Cape Baily near Cronulla, three-quarters of a mile off, steering 18 degrees magnetic.
• At about 6.45am she was a mile off Cape Banks, the northern head of Botany Bay.
• The weather turned hazy, and her course was said to have been altered to 23 degrees.
• She ran into dense fog, and at 6.52am she was on the rocks on the northern side of Long Bay.

Why she went that way is where the stories differ. The Australasian Underwater Cultural Heritage Database says Captain Leslie ordered a 5 degree turn to starboard to take her away from the coast, but the helmsman misunderstood and turned her 5 degrees to port, towards the land. Underwater Australasia tells it differently. In its version Leslie ordered 5 degrees of rudder to take her further out than the half mile he'd planned, but kept the engines at Full Ahead and sounded the foghorn for any fishing boats instead of slowing down. Moments later he and the quartermaster saw the cliff dead ahead, and the ship drove up onto the rocks at 12 knots, just missing a local fishing boat.

"Burns Philp motorship Malabar stranded on Blow Hole, NSW, April 2nd, 1931," as the photographer captioned it. Allan C. Green, State Library Victoria, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The weather itself was strange. McFadyen notes that photographs taken later that day show a sea as flat as a millpond, while the Sydney Morning Herald reported the swell picking up at high tide. Photos taken aboard after the grounding show plenty of fog about. The Dictionary of Sydney calls it simply "negligence by Captain George Leslie".

Getting Everyone Off

McFadyen says the Malabar hit about 50 metres inside the northern headland. Leslie rang for full speed astern, but she was stuck fast. He stopped the engines and ordered everyone off. The Randwick Council history says the evacuation took half an hour, with the lifeboats landing the passengers and crew at Long Bay.

Stuck fast on the rocks at Long Bay. Notice how close she sits to the cliff. State Library of Queensland, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The three stud horses were swum ashore. The ship's cat is the one bit of the story that always gets a mention: it refused to leave and was the only life lost. Both the council and McFadyen tell it.

There was a go at saving her. McFadyen writes that the trawler Charlie Cam turned up at about 10am and tried to tow her off, but the line parted. The tug St Aristell was made ready, but by then it was too late. The captain, three officers and the ship's doctor stayed aboard until noon. Then they stood off in a small boat until about 1.30pm, by which time she had a bad list to starboard and was filling and settling at the stern.

Crowds line the rock platform as the Malabar lies broadside to the swell. State Library of Queensland, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Easter at the Wreck

The wreck happened right on Easter, and Sydney made a holiday of it. McFadyen quotes the Herald of 4 April 1931: "There were two principal places of amusement on the Good Friday holiday – the Show and the Malabar – and it appeared that everyone went to both."

Sightseers on the rocks above the wreck. Visiting the Malabar became the outing of Easter 1931. Australian National Maritime Museum on The Commons, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

Nobody agrees on how many came. McFadyen says the Daily Telegraph and the Herald reported 150,000 on Good Friday alone, and the Telegraph reckoned 500,000 by 7 April. The heritage database puts it at about 300,000 over the weekend. Whatever the true figure, the photos show the headland and rock platform covered in people.

Another view from the headland, with the crowd spread across the sandstone. Australian National Maritime Museum on The Commons, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

It turned into a fair. People set up stalls selling fruit, sandwiches and soft drinks, photographers sold pictures of the wreck, and musicians busked. McFadyen says thirty police were on duty to keep order, with another eight directing traffic. On 5 April a snake charmer from Surry Hills, George Aither, was bitten on the hand by one of his snakes while performing at the wreck. He was taken to the Coast Hospital nearby and let go after treatment.

The ship broken and settling, seen from the cliffs of the headland. Australian National Maritime Museum on The Commons, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

She breaks up

McFadyen says the ship broke up in heavy seas on Good Friday, 4 April, and her cargo went into the water. Goods washed ashore along the coast between Sydney and Newcastle, and even inside the Harbour. The Herald told of young blokes risking their necks to drag a keg of beer out of the surf. One man made his son a little chair from timbers off the wreck. McFadyen says the family still had it in 2015, and five generations had used it.

Locals picking over cargo and debris washed ashore from the wreck. Australian National Maritime Museum on The Commons, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

The surf going right over what was left of her. From the William Hall collection. Australian National Maritime Museum on The Commons, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

Heavy seas pounding the wreck. Within days she had broken in two. State Library of Queensland, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The seas finish the job on the Malabar. State Library of Queensland, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Opium, a Stolen Compass and a Lost Diver

The wreck threw up some odd stories. McFadyen writes that police had been tipped off that some of the Chinese crew were smuggling opium and were waiting at the wharf. When word came of the stranding they rushed out to Long Bay and followed one of the crew. On 12 April they raided an opium den in Dixon Street, smashed through a brick wall, and found 16 cans of opium. Three of the Malabar's crew were among those arrested.

On 6 April two men were arrested for stealing the ship's compass. One of them, Bruce William Tilley, faced Central Police Court on 20 April charged with stealing a compass worth £90.

Allan C. Green's photograph labelled simply "Malabar wreck". Allan C. Green, State Library Victoria, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Salvage

According to McFadyen, the wreck was sold to the Penguin Salvage Company on 7 April 1931, for £140 for the hull and £41 for the cargo. The heritage database says only that the wreck and cargo were sold at auction. Work started on 8 April, and the binnacle stand, some furniture and basins came off before heavy seas stopped it the next day. On 10 April James Williams, one of the Penguin partners, swam out and rescued the ship's Union Jack and the bosun's store. He also saved the medicine chest, which his grandson still owned when McFadyen wrote.

On 15 April, the Herald reported, some fishermen had got hold of a diving suit and sent a man down to look for goods. His safety line was lost and he "walked helplessly about the bay" until he kicked off his weighted boots and shot feet-first to the surface. He was unhurt.

"Malabar wreckage": the superstructure tipped over in the surf. Unknown photographer, State Library Victoria, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Sam Hood's photograph of divers and helpers with their diving rig, catalogued as "Malabar wreck, Maroubra", about 1933 to 1934. Sam Hood, State Library of New South Wales, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Inquiry

A Court of Marine Inquiry sat in Sydney on 15 and 16 April 1931 before John Laidlaw, the Chief Stipendiary Magistrate of New South Wales. Captain Leslie was charged with failure of duty in the navigation of the Malabar. McFadyen gives the result in one line: "The Court found the charge proved and cancelled the Certificate of George Leslie."

Underwater Australasia says the inquiry found him negligent for not altering course sooner and not slowing down when the visibility closed in. At 71, that was the end of his career at sea.

From Long Bay to Malabar

A suburb with a bad name

Before the wreck, the place wasn't called Malabar. Wikipedia's suburb history says the area was Church and School land, offered for sale as allotments from 1869. It was proclaimed the Village of Brand in 1899, though everyone kept calling it Long Bay. It only really grew once the tram reached the Coast Hospital in 1901. Between about 1910 and 1920, campers and holiday shacks filled the dunes behind the beach on weekends.

Long Bay on a Broadhurst postcard, some time between 1900 and 1927, long before anyone called it Malabar. William Henry Broadhurst, State Library of New South Wales, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Parade, Long Bay, another Broadhurst postcard from the early 1900s. William Henry Broadhurst, State Library of New South Wales, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A day out at the beach at Long Bay, around 1900. Unknown photographer, Randwick Library, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The problem was the gaol. Building started in 1902 on the State Reformatory for Women, south of the village, and it opened in August 1909. The State Penitentiary for Men followed in 1914. "Long Bay" came to mean prison to every Sydneysider. The heritage database says plainly that the name was seen to reflect badly on the suburb because of the gaol nearby.

The entrance to the Long Bay Gaol, which is why the locals wanted a new name. Unknown photographer, Randwick Library, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Kate Leigh's prison photograph from the Long Bay Women's Reformatory. With residents like her, it's no wonder the locals wanted rid of the Long Bay name. State Records NSW, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

The renaming

The wreck gave the locals their chance. The heritage database says interest in the Malabar led to a residents' petition to name the suburb after her, and the new name was published in the Government Gazette of 29 September 1933. Wikipedia gives the same date. McFadyen adds a footnote: the NSW Geographical Names Board didn't formally approve Malabar for the suburb until June 1977.

The entrance to the Long Bay Correctional Complex today. Samuel Martin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Outfall Next Door

The Malabar had wrecked almost on top of Sydney's sewage. Wikipedia says the ocean outfall on Malabar Headland was built in 1916. By 1959 the growing flow of sewage had badly fouled the water in Long Bay, and the local surf club eventually folded in 1973. McFadyen says the wreck lay within metres of the outfall. The Health Department and Randwick Council closed Malabar Beach and a nearby ocean pool in the mid-1960s, and the wreck was too foul to dive. Underwater Australasia makes the wry point that the "thick brown sludge" at least kept the souvenir hunters off her for decades.

That changed on 22 September 1990, when the Malabar treatment plant's deep-water outfall was switched on, pumping partly treated sewage three to four kilometres out to sea. McFadyen grew up nearby and says the water around the old outfall at Yellow Rock was clearer within hours.

The Wreck Today

Before the clean-up, the wreck had already been picked over. McFadyen says pioneer scuba divers stripped the valuable metal in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Barry May blew up parts of the wreck to salvage them, and with John Bissett he raised the bronze propeller some time before 1962. It was 15 feet 6 inches across and about six tons, and it had to be broken up to move. Jon Jacobs took the main bell in 1961. A smaller bell inscribed "Malabar 1926" was stolen from a farm veranda in 1990 and seemed to turn up for sale on eBay in 2008. In about 1964 John Cann, of the La Perouse snake show family, salvaged one of the anchors, which now sits out the front of Juniors at Malabar. In 1974 a commercial diving class practised with gelignite on part of the wreck.

On 5 October 1990, a fortnight after the new outfall opened, McFadyen and his brother went looking for her. They found the anchor, rudder, davits, capstans, drive shaft and the big engine, all in only 9 to 10 metres of water.

Long Bay, Malabar, in 2009. The wreck lies under the northern headland on the left side of the bay. Adam.J.W.C., CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Diving the Malabar

There isn't much ship left. The site is shallow and wide open to Sydney's worst seas, so the hull, decks and superstructure are just twisted, rusted metal. Depths differ a little between accounts. The heritage database says 13 to 18 metres, Underwater Australasia says 6 to 12 metres, and McFadyen says the main pieces lie in 9 to 10 metres. Divers' accounts mention:

• the rudder and stern frame, at about 6 metres according to Underwater Australasia
• lengths of the drive shaft, some still bolted together at the flanges
• what's probably the auxiliary steam engine
• the main engine lying on its side, with its crankshaft, pistons and conrods, full of blackfish and bream
• a large propeller that can't be the Malabar's own, since hers was salvaged. McFadyen thinks it came from the Goolgwai, wrecked nearby in 1955, or was a spare.
• a big wheel, possibly the flywheel

McFadyen believes the funnel and its built-in boiler ended up a kilometre away at Tupia Point on the far side of Long Bay, in about 8 metres. The huge seas of July 2001, up to 12 metres off Sydney, cracked the engine in two and threw rocks of two to four metres across the wreck.

Malabar Beach from the rocks on the southern side of the bay, 2015. Red-back spider, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Malabar Beach in 2007. J Bar, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

A headland of wrecks

The Malabar wasn't the only ship to come to grief here. Wikipedia's Malabar Headland article lists the St Albans in 1882, the Hereward in 1898, the SS Tekapo in 1899, the Malabar in 1931, the Belbowrie in 1939, the Try One in 1947, the SS Goolgwai in 1955 and a barge the same year. The headland itself is now mostly Malabar Headland National Park. It was set up in 2012 and has been on the State Heritage Register since 2005, alongside the old rifle range.

Walkers on the cliffs of Malabar Headland National Park, 2017. Timothy M Roberts, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The rifle range on Malabar Headland in 2004. Paul Clarence, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Timeline

• April 1883: James Burns and Robert Philp start Burns, Philp & Co.
• 1899: The Village of Brand is proclaimed at Long Bay.
• 1902 to 1909: The State Reformatory for Women is built at Long Bay and opens in August 1909.
• 1914: The State Penitentiary for Men opens.
• 1916: The ocean outfall is built on the headland.
• 1924: Burns Philp orders its first motor ship.
• 9 July 1925: The Malabar is launched at Barclay, Curle's yard in Glasgow.
• October 1925: She rams the Wemyss Bay pier on trials.
• 17 December 1925: She arrives in Sydney on her maiden voyage.
• 2 January 1926: Her first Singapore voyage leaves Sydney.
• 31 March 1931: She leaves Melbourne for Singapore under Captain George Leslie.
• 2 April 1931, 6.52am: She runs aground in fog on the northern side of Long Bay. Everyone gets off safely.
• 4 April 1931 (Good Friday): She breaks up in heavy seas while huge crowds watch.
• 7 April 1931: The wreck and cargo are sold to Penguin Salvage.
• 12 April 1931: Police raid an opium den in Dixon Street and arrest three of her crew.
• 15–16 April 1931: The Court of Marine Inquiry sits and cancels Leslie's certificate.
• 29 September 1933: The name Malabar is gazetted for the suburb.
• Before 1962: Her bronze propeller is salvaged.
• Mid-1960s: Malabar Beach is closed because of pollution.
• June 1977: The Geographical Names Board formally approves the suburb name, according to McFadyen.
• 22 September 1990: The deep-water outfall opens.
• 5 October 1990: Divers rediscover the wreck.
• July 2001: Huge seas crack the engine.
• 2005: Malabar Headland goes on the State Heritage Register.
• 2012: Malabar Headland National Park is set up.

Where the Sources Disagree

• Where the name came from. The heritage database, the Dictionary of Sydney and McFadyen say a small town in Java near Bandung. Wikipedia says the Malabar region of India.
• Why she turned towards the shore. The heritage database blames a helmsman who turned 5 degrees to port instead of starboard. Underwater Australasia and the inquiry finding, as McFadyen reports it, put it on the captain for not altering course sooner and keeping full speed in fog.
• How many crew. The inquiry statement and the heritage database say 109 officers and crew. The Randwick Council history and McFadyen's own narrative say 108.
• How many sightseers. 150,000 on Good Friday (the Telegraph and Herald, via McFadyen), 300,000 over the weekend (heritage database), and 500,000 by 7 April (the Telegraph, via McFadyen).
• Where exactly she hit. Wikipedia's suburb article says Miranda Point. Other accounts say the northern headland of Long Bay, and one contemporary photo caption says "Blow Hole".
• When the name became official. 29 September 1933 in the Gazette, according to the heritage database and Wikipedia. June 1977 by the Geographical Names Board, according to McFadyen.
• How deep the wreck lies. 13 to 18 metres (heritage database), 6 to 12 metres (Underwater Australasia) or 9 to 10 metres for the main pieces (McFadyen).
• Steamer or motor ship. Several sources call her a steamer, but she was a diesel motor ship.

My Earlier Posts

• The Wreck of the Dunbar – South Head – Watsons Bay – 20 August 1857
• The Greycliffe Ferry Disaster – Sydney Harbour – 3 November 1927
• The Shark Arm Case – Coogee Aquarium – 1935
• Kate Leigh & Tilly Devine – Sydney's Razor Gang Queens
• The Cadigal People And The Eastern Beaches
• Aboriginal Land Names Across The Eastern Beaches

Sources

1. Australasian Underwater Cultural Heritage Database, "Malabar", shipwreck ID 1151: environment.gov.au/shipwreck/public/wreck/wreck.do?key=1151
2. Michael McFadyen, "MV Malabar", Michael McFadyen's Scuba Diving Web Site, drawing on Lloyd's Register, the Sydney Morning Herald of April 1931, Burns Philp histories and the Marine Inquiry result of 16 April 1931: michaelmcfadyenscuba.info/viewpage.php?page_id=68
3. Underwater Australasia, "Introductory Rust Diving on the Wreck of the Malabar": underwater.com.au/article/id/6407
4. Randwick City Council, Our Story, "Shipwreck of MV Malabar": ourstory.randwick.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/8138
5. Dictionary of Sydney, "Malabar Shipwrecks site": dictionaryofsydney.org/place/malabar_shipwrecks_site
6. Wikipedia, "Malabar, New South Wales": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malabar,_New_South_Wales
7. Wikipedia, "Malabar Headland": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malabar_Headland
8. Wikipedia, "Burns Philp": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burns_Philp
9. Wikipedia, "Long Bay Correctional Centre": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Bay_Correctional_Centre
10. Pictures: Wikimedia Commons, from the Australian National Maritime Museum, State Library of Queensland, State Library Victoria, State Library of New South Wales, Randwick Library, State Records NSW and individual photographers, as credited under each picture.