wharves

Gladstone was originally known as Port Curtis, which was named by Matthew Flinders in 1802 after Sir Roger Curtis who had been Commandant at the Cape of Good Hope when he had called there for victuals and resupply. Port Curtis enjoyed a brief three months of temporary settlement as the administrative centre of the colony of North Australia (1847). George Barney (Barney's Point, Gladstone) commanded the settlement but a change of government in England led to its disbandment. Within a few years pastoral occupation of the hinterland brought about pressure for the port to be a livestock shipping outlet. In 1853 the town of Gladstone was surveyed and the first sale of town and suburban allotments took place the following year. Gladstone served well as a harbor, but the absence of plentiful water and agricultural land hindered its development. A gold rush at nearby Canoona (1858) then overshadowed Gladstone for a period. Although declared a municipality in 1863, Gladstone's growth was slow: a customs house was erected in 1860, the first school in 1864, a Presbyterian church in 1869 and Catholic and Church of England churches in 1874. Gladstone's wharves were at Auckland Point (named after the ship Lord Auckland that brought the first European settlers in 1847), where Auckland Inlet enters Port Curtis. The short waterway involved navigating a strait that was obstructed by submerged rock and passable only at high tide. Intermittent blasting and dredging went on until the 1890s in an attempt to improve access through the passage, with less than adequate results. Funds were spent on alternative harbors at Port Alma and Rockhampton, leaving Gladstone's population convinced they were being unfairly overlooked. Gladstone remained convinced that it had the best potential shipping harbour in central Queensland. The state government appointed the Gladstone Harbour Board in 1914, and the town formed its own Gladstone Harbour League to lobby the Railways minister for fairer haulage rates and for freight from surrounding shires. Progress was slow, and the town's economic mainstays remained the Port Curtis dairy factory (which achieved maximum production during the 1940s-50s) and the meat works. Tourism was still a distant prospect, although Heron Island emerged as a local holiday destination in the 1930s. Flying boats, bound for Singapore and connections to England called at Auckland Inlet from 1935 and a land aerodrome, jointly backed by Gladstone and Calliope Shire, opened in 1956. Source: www.queenslandplaces.com.au/gladstone

Built 1921 7007 grt. owned by Messargeries Maritimes. Chartered by Japan 1942 as Teison Maru and torpedoed and sunk 14 Oct 1942.

Correction. Above ship details were for Ville de Verdun. Ville d'Amiens was built 1924, 7068 grt owned by Messargeries Maritimes and scrapped at La Seyne 1953.

Illingworth was built in 1922, 6067 grt. The ship was sold during the Great Depression in 1934 to A Vestarhis, Piraeus and renamed Mina. in 1937 the ship was sold to Achille Lauro (later the well known pass liner/cruise ship operator, but at this stage a cargo ship operator) and renamed Aida Lauro. The ship was seized by Brazil in Dec 1941 and was renamed Victorialoide. Reacquired by Achille Lauro in 1950 the ship was immediately scrapped.