'Very special': Emotional trip to disaster site for teen survivor's family

Some of them travelled from New Zealand for the official reopening of a walking track to the long-hidden memorial on the clifftop overlooking the site of the wreck.

Last weekend, a wreath was laid at the memorial to those who were buried there in 1891 after the ship hit rocks on September 6.

Granddaughter Gillian Caunter described the day as "very special".

"This is tying up some loose ends," she said.

Even though her grandfather Louis lived with her family for the last five years of his life, she said he didn't talk much about the disaster.

"Only when we were children he told us a story and how he had to put on a women's skirt on the beach because that was all they had, the clothing that they brought in," she said.

"It must have been a lasting memory for a 16-year-old boy."

After being orphaned at a young age, he had taken a job as an apprentice on the Fiji. After one of the men aboard made it to shore to raise the alarm, a rocket crew managed to get a rope from shore to the vessel.

Hand-over-hand, Louis tried to get himself to safety from the stricken vessel along the thin rope.

"He almost made it, and he just couldn't do it any further and called out for help and one of the locals rushed in... and saved him," Ms Caunter said.

In his letter back to his grandparents, written soon after the disaster, Louis wrote "if I offered up a prayer that night I offered up many of them".

"It was though he was going to have a career at sea but it didn't happen," she said.

After spending six months at Rivernook guest house near Princetown where those who were rescued sheltered, Louis returned to Wales before immigrating to New Zealand in 1906.

Ms Caunter said Louis had even twice met the Queen for his work.

After he passed away, his ashes were scattered at sea.

Grandson Derek Campbell said they had brought their 90-year-old mother to steps at Wreck Beach in 2006.

"It was very special. It's an important place for the family," he said.

"He was a wonderful man."

Mr Campbell said they had tried about 20 years ago to find the monument, but to no avail.

Now the monument, the Fiji's upside down anchor encased in concrete on the beach below and the wreck at the bottom of the ocean have been given heritage protection.

Mr Campbell said his grandfather never had the opportunity to thank any of those involved in saving of his life, but they now had to opportunity to do that.

Historian Alan McLean - who wrote a book on the tragedy and campaigned for the track to be reopened - made special mention of the unnamed cook when he placed a wreath at the newly fenced memorial to the victims on Sunday, April 21.

The idea of reopening the track to the memorial was first raised in 1990 around the centenary of the disaster, but it has taken more than 30 years to bring it to fruition with the help of Parks Victoria's Andrew McKinnon and Mick Francis.

"This location had everything - tragic drownings, classical courage by the rescuers on the beach, and spontaneous humanity shown by the people of the district, helping the 14 men who escaped the disaster," Mr McLean said

"Now the community-funded monument has been recovered from the scrub, is accessible to all interested walkers, and has been listed by Heritage Victoria.

"If we can find the skills to restore the lettering on the monument, I will die happy.

"Sunday's tribute to the brave local rescuers, attended by their descendants, while meeting warmly with descendants of rescued survivor Louis Evans was really the icing on the cake for the campaign to restore access.

"The one minute of silent reflection after the placement of the wreath on the cliff-top, hearing only the waves breaking on the shore far below, was an emotional pause for all."

Rex Mathieson, of Nirranda, whose ancestral links include Willie Ward, a young man who rode from the wreck site to Princetown to seek help, spoke of his pleasure that a track now leads to the heritage site.

"I argued for a track to reach the monument, funded and erected by the people of the Warrnambool district, but long since overgrown and inaccessible due to dense coastal scrub," Mr Mathieson said.

"As history records, it was the people of Warrnambool that put their hands in their pockets and raised 100 pounds to have this made. That was serious money back 130 years ago. We should all feel indebted to the citizens of Warrnambool."

Colac's Matthew Tippins' great grandparents John and Emily Evans - no relation to the teen survivor - ran the 26-room Rivernook guesthouse where the survivors sheltered.

"People came from Ballarat, Toorak, all over the place to stay there," he said. "People would go back for their fifth of sixth visit, it was the place to go."

Mr Tippins said he has a copy of one of the former guest book but most of the memorabilia from the guesthouse was lost in the Lavers Hill fire in the 1919.

"When the big bushfire came through, they had all this stuff in a steel truck. Grandfather went out and put it in the middle of a ploughed paddock thinking it was going to be safe. The heat was so intense when they opened the trunk there was just ash inside it," he said.

All that is left of Rivernook house near Princetown is the bricks at the top of the cellars.

"I remember as a young fella you could see one or two walls still standing up on top of the hill but over the years it just slowly fell apart," he said.

There are now plans to restore the lead lettering on the memorial, and a viewing platform at the site which needs to be brought in by helicopter.