Cherry Venture Wreck to be removed.

[Lone_Wolf]

On the news tonight, it was announced that the Cherry Venture wreck will be removed from the beaches of the Sunshine Coast. The reason cited was for safety. For someone who has grown up with this story of a wrecked ship during a storm in 1973, it is a sign of the times I guess where safety and public liability are placed ahead of history and tourism.

LW

The story of the Cherry Venture for those who do not know it.... #

On July 6th, 1973, the Cherry Venture was driven aground in a wild storm at Double Island Point on Noosa's North Shore. The 1600 ton Singapore owned cargo ship, manned by 19 Malaysian, Filipino and Chinese crewmen with an Indonesian captain, was bound for Brisbane from New Zealand when it was caught in what was described as the worst storm in living memory. The first distress signals from the captain were picked up at 5:50 a.m. as the ship foundered in 12 meter waves and 140 kph winds. Seven hours later the ship ran aground after its anchor cable broke. It lay in n upright position on the beach facing South and continued to be buffeted by gale force winds and huge waves breaking over her. Two RAAF Iroquois helicopters were dispatched from Amberly Air Base at 9:30 a.m. that morning before the Cherry Venture ran aground but it took another six hours before they could reach the scene because of the continuing intensity of the storm



Displaying extraordinary flying skills in the atrocious conditions, with visibility at less than 200 metres, the RAAF helicopter crews safely winched all crewmen from the ship and shuttled them to nearby Tin Can Bay. The entire rescue took two hours. There was no loss of life. Attempts were made to refloat the Cherry Venture by digging out sand from around it and filling the excavation with water. Although the vessel was able to be turned around, it was not able to be pulled back out to sea and the idea was abandoned. Since then, the rusting red wreck of the Cherry Venture has become a tourism landmark on the North Shore of the Sunshine Coast and is a favourite stopping off place for visitors from throughout Australia and all around the world.

[marlinqld]

bummer

[dogsbody]

I remember when it was afloat and they had plans of dragging it out to sea many years ago. Another icon to go down in the "just a memory "

Was very dangerous last time i say it.

Dave.

[a_big_red_1]

i can see where they are comming from, but i think its a damn shame to remove it :(

Daz

[Poodroo]

Well that's a shame. I used to love hitting the beach and taking the kids to see it. I guess we will just have to enjoy the Maheno Wreck on Fraser Island while it lasts. :-/

Poodroo

[4x4frog]

I can remember heading up to see the thing the week it grounded way back in 73. Friends of ours had just bought a Jeep CJ6 and that was one of its early forays onto sand.
I can not for the life of me start to understand why they are moving it for safety reasons. Are they going to now cut all the trees down too because someone kid may climb one and fall out. It's high time individuals took responsibility for their actions. If my kids were up there and climbed the thing and fell off it I wouldn't sue the Govt, they never pushed the kid to climb it >:(
All rights and no responsibility...too American

[CHRIS_aka_GWH]

thats just stupid - might be time to friggin' dynamite the rocks on the southern side of north gorge at point lookout - 3 guys were killed in the last 2 years on them.

or lets ban the mexican wave because idiots throw rubbish - how about we punish the idiots not make excuses or try and protect them from being idiots -

once upon a time idiots were removed from our gene pool by natural selection - if you annoy the polar bear for fun .... - now we are protecting them. :-/

chris

[4x4frog]

once upon a time idiots were removed from our gene pool by natural selection - if you annoy the polar bear for fun .... - now we are protecting them. #:-/

chris
;D Totally agree with that..I think our kids will be OK, mine are fairly sensible and have loads of common sense unlike several you see today.

[Reefmaster]

Real bloody shame that. :(
Spent a lot of my life up there and will be disapointing to see it gone :(. It was only a couple of weeks ago i found this coloured photo of the Cherry Venture among the family photos which was back in the early 80's. What was more amazing was that my Mother said she had done a painting of the Cherry Venture which looked very similar to the photo. I asked where it was and she said in storage would you like it - ahhhhhh yes pleaseeeeeee :D :D 8-). You should see the painting it looks just like the photo- no joke :o :o 8-). fantastic painting. Talk about a happy camper. :)

Regards Greg

[dogsbody]

Good pic Greg. I remember sitting on my brothers shoulders about that time and carving my name into the stack.

Dave.

[4x4frog]

:'( That brings a tear to the eye, memories, light the corner......... ;D
Top pic

[lippa]

is the mahino next?????? hope not.

cheers

lippa

[choppa]

memories are good,, but at the end of the day ""public liability"" wins,,

i read about this in the SCD today,,, and the main reason why it has appeared as a major risk is due to the exposed asbestos that is coming from the engine room,,, (whats left of it)

the amount of cuts and injuries in total due to buried metal etc around he wreck is also growing,,, so its only a matter of time before someone does some serious damage,,, or picks up a piece of ""fluffy"" stuff and sues the crap outta council,,,,

its going to take a while though to take it out,,, and of course due to jan/feb being normal storm and high tide season,,, may take a bit longer than planned??????????

choppa

[tunaman]

How about cutting it up into six chunks and tow it out were it would be
more usefull in making some reefs. Its not an Australian vessel, so get ridd of it, to me its just an eye sore, and a danger too others.



signed tunaman

[gilbo]

Last time over at Tangalooma seeing people climb all over the wrecks there, I was wondering how much longer they will be around for as well.

Memory of the Cherry Venture (warning 1.7 Mb Image)

http://www.smellephant.com/memoryimage.jpg

tried resizing but the panorama loses a lot

[Reef_fisher]

I also listened to the reported incident of asbestos, why now after thirty years. I can remember seeing the stuff and wondering what it was, I was told by an adult in no uncertain terms not to touch the stuff, and that was in the early eighties!!! If it is dangerous, remove it. But you have to wonder why now after so long.

[tunaman]

If it was a Australian ship, I could see the historical value, and maybe it could be cleaned up and serve as a reminder from days gone past.
But its not. Its dangerous and a ugly scar to our coast line.

It would be better at the bottem of the sea.



signed tunaman

[harry_h01]

Oh well, another beach icon to disappear.

I remember climbing all over the engine rooms, and climbing the stack as a kid. We have photos to show our kids, but it will be missed as a marker point on the beach.

And what will the F111s use as a turning point now during the exercises.

Lets hope the Mahino isn't next.

Harry

[Brett1907]

I can see all points (including tunaman). I haven't been up there to see it, hope to take the kids up before it is gone.

I do hope that they use it for something good as tunaman suggests. Create an artificial reef with it. That way divers and fisherman can still benefit. What a bait ground it would make.

Brett

[4x4frog]

It would have made a great artifical reef years ago when it was still able to be floated.i fear the boat has sailed (;D) with respect to getting it out to a viable position to use as a reef. The logistics involved in getting it aboard something capable of moving it would triple the cost IMHO. :(

[Canoedle]

Here's a pic of a blown up photo we have on the wall, taken by a photographer from a local paper in Gympie just after she ran aground.

[Slient]

Cherry Venture was an icon at Double Island and we will miss it... :'(

[choppa]

for those of you who have been up there recently and seen it,,,,,

an artificial reef its not going to be,,,,,,,

its been reduced to nothing but a pile of twisted,, and cut up scrap metal,,,,

with the exposed asbestos issue now????????

looks like its gunna become landfill

[Lone_Wolf]

Great pic Canoedle! T'was an awesome looking vessel in her day.

[Louis]

I understand the reasons and possibly it is time for it to be removed.

Just the same though. It is an Icon and it will be a shame to see it go.



Louis

[rando]

I hope my memory serves me correctly, I think a bloke called Joe Engwirda a local salvage diver who came to fame when he rescued the crew of a upturned barge after it capsized in Moreton Bay,( He dived into the upturned ship and brought them out one at a time). bought the wreck just after she ran aground and spent a long time and $$$$$ trying to salvage it, and almost succeeded. He dredge a channel out to sea and used two big tugs to try and skulldrag it off the beach on a high tide, but could not keep the channel open long enough.

Its a shame it has to be removed as its a wonderful part of our local history Involving, heroes, feats of dareing,huge gambles, protracted efforts.
A real aussie battlers tale. would make a good short film.

[S.S.]

Unfortunately people have to be protected from their own stupidity in this day and age. ::) Barriers and signs don't work.... if it doesn't work the next best thing is to remove it.

Damn..... where's the ice-cream bloke going to hang out now?

:)

[dogsbody]

Maybe someone should get one of those illegal fishing boats and run it aground to take it's place. ;)

Dave.

[Sportfish_5]

Good pic Greg - My olds have a few like that and I also remember going to see it as a kid when they were trying to get it off with the tugs.

Time has taken it's toll on her and there really is not that much of interest to see now


Cheers

Greg

[choppa]

Unfortunately people have to be protected from their own stupidity in this day and age. # #::) # Barriers and signs don't work.... if it doesn't work the next best thing is to remove it. # #

Damn..... where's the ice-cream bloke going to hang out now?

:) # #



good point,,, the article in the SCD stated 30 years he plugged that spot,,,, i know he was there on my first trip,, and became an absolute icon in his own right,,

i wonder if there's any pics of him about when he first started????

choppa

[Black_Rat]

I also listened to the reported incident of asbestos, why now after thirty years. I can remember seeing the stuff and wondering what it was, I was told by an adult in no uncertain terms not to touch the stuff, and that was in the early eighties!!! If it is dangerous, remove it. But you have to wonder why now after so long.

Touching the stuff isn't the problem, it's breathing it in. More than likely in the engine bay pipe lagging.

And yes there will be men in disposable overalls with respirators when they demolish it #:-X

[snappa]

as an adult i cant remember too much of the "ship on the beach"


after a dozen "tall necks" ........... [smiley=wreck.gif]

[Jim_Byrne]

Yeh Rando your memory isn't too bad.

I have also heard that story, from very reliable sources.

However the version I heard suggested that the old owner of the vessell (the one who ran it aground) was making some money from running a tourist venture out of the cherry venture. He apparently had loads and loads of people paying good money to ride in old trucks and busses up to see the wreck every day and that he stood to loose big time.

I heard it may not have been a case of keeping the channel open but a situation where the old owner didn't want it gone and stopped it. That was another story in itself from what I remember.

Either way it would make a great movie!

Cheers

Jim