Documentary brings the story of the 150-year-old Geltwood shipwreck to life

For 150 years, the Geltwood has been part of the Limestone Coast's story. Now a documentary is bringing the shipwreck back to the screen, with family footage and local memories at its center.

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I stumbled across some amazing footage that my dad had filmed back in the 80s.

The ship sank off South Australia's southeast coast in June 1876 after a storm described at the time as a hurricane. All 31 passengers and crew members were presumed to have drowned. The wreck remained undiscovered until the 1980s.

Lyndal Redman's connection to the Geltwood is personal. Her father, Kym, dived on the wreck and used his boat to help recover artefacts. When she found footage he had filmed in the 1980s, she decided to preserve the story. “I stumbled across some amazing footage that my dad had filmed back in the 80s,” she said. “I just knew that I needed to do something with it to preserve the story of the Geltwood.”

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I just knew that I needed to do something with it to preserve the story of the Geltwood.

The documentary also confronts the controversy surrounding the wreck. Artefacts that washed ashore in 1876 were looted and auctioned, spreading pieces of the ship into local homes. Historian Lisa Braes said many people in the area still have Geltwood wood in their shearing sheds or farmhouses.

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So many local people have been touched by the story.

Local divers later recovered artefacts now displayed in museums in Millicent and Beachport. But Adelaide media accused them of looting the ship, Braes said. “They felt so embarrassed and ashamed that they could be thought to be looting,” she said. “They were only bringing the things up off the wreck for prosperity.” The documentary presents both the fascination and the shame that have kept the Geltwood alive in local memory.

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They were only bringing the things up off the wreck for prosperity.