Tasmanian Seafarers Memorial

The Tasmanian Seafarers' Memorial is a public memorial structure located at Triabunna, Tasmania which jointly commemorates all Tasmanians whose lives were lost at sea, along with the lives of all seafarers of any origin who lost their lives in Tasmanian waters. The memorial comprises individual commemorative plaques for each maritime tragedy involving recreational, commercial, mercantile or naval vessels and personnel lost since 1803. As-at February 2017, the memorial contained plaques for 116 tragic events involving the loss of over 1450 lives.

The Seafarers' Memorial at Triabunna is an acknowledged Australian maritime memorial site, and has become a popular visiting and reflection place for many tourists travelling on Tasmania's eastern coast.

Located to the south of the Australian mainland and fully exposed to the Roaring Forties winds of the Southern Hemisphere, the island state of Tasmania has a long history of seafaring, and an even longer history of seaborne tragedy. Ships have foundered off Tasmania's 2,500 kilometres (1,600 mi) of coastline even before permanent settlement began in 1803, and over 1000 vessels are known to have been lost in Tasmanian waters since records began. In addition, Tasmanians have served or sailed on vessels across the globe since those same times, both in peacetime and in war, and many have perished in seafaring tragedies, often never being recovered. It is to all these vessels and seafarers that the Tasmanian Seafarers' Memorial is dedicated.

The stated purposes of the Memorial are:

The Memorial has its origins with the loss of a young fisherman of Triabunna, Gavin Batchelor, who drowned off Maria Island in 1995. Representations were made to the local Glamorgan Spring Bay Council, who in 1996 established a permanent Tasmanian Seafarers' Memorial Committee to oversee the construction and ongoing management of a memorial suitable to be dedicated to all Tasmanian seafarers. Financial support has been from local, state and federal levels of government as well as individual donations.

The official dedication of the Memorial occurred on Sunday 26 October 1997, which was conducted by the Mayor of Glamorgan Spring Bay Council, Cr E. A. (Bill) Bailey, and addressed by members of the Australian and Tasmanian governments, through Senator Eric Abetz and the Hon. Denise Swan respectively. The formal dedication quoted at the initial and all subsequent ceremonies at the Memorial is:

...
Wikipedia