A special ship in the night

A CENTURY after the ill-fated Falls of Halladale struck a reef at Peterborough the town turned out in style on the weekend to recall the event.Hundreds soaked up the significance of the second-last tall ship to come to grief on the Shipwreck Coast, famously illustrated in a photograph of the vessel, still in full sail, stranded close to shore and watched by a crowd of well-dressed locals.It was especially significant for Port Campbell resident Garry Radford who is the great-grandson of Henry Croft, the first person to raise the alarm when the Falls of Halladale came to grief at 3am on November 14, 1908.Mr Radford's name is on a plaque cemented into a memorial overlooking Halladale Point.Fortunately, all passengers and crew survived. Centenary committee president Rex Mathieson said it was a unique weekend which started on Friday evening with the launch of Salvage of the Falls of Halladale, taken from the diary of Peterborough pioneer Jessie Macgillivray. Only 100 copies of the book were printed with Mrs Macgillivray's descendant Tom McKenzie paying $500 for the first copy. Guest speaker, historian Donald Walker, shared his knowledge of south-west shipwrecks and a memorabilia display turned the local fire shed into a museum with rare items from 1914.