The Macquarie Heads Breakwater was a project of the Strahan Marine Board in Western Tasmania to sustain a reasonable depth to the Hells Gates and Macquarie Heads of the Macquarie Harbour area to allow for shipping of limited tonnage to serve Regatta Point while the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company was exporting its mineral products by sea. The heads were notoriously difficult to navigate in good weather, and even more difficult in bad weather.
The SS Kaiwatiri was wrecked at Macquarie Heads between 1907 and 1910,[1] and the shoal to the east of the main entrance channel is now known as the Kaiwatiri Shoal.