SS Koombana

Koombana in port, about 1910
History
Australia
NameKoombana
NamesakeKoombana, near Bunbury, WA
Owner Adelaide Steamship Company
Port of registryPort Adelaide
BuilderA Stephen & Sons, Linthouse
Yard number429
Launched27 October 1908
Identification
FateLost with all hands, 20 March 1912
General characteristics
Typepassenger ship
Tonnage3,668 GRT, 2,182 NRT
Length340.1 ft (103.7 m)
Beam48.2 ft (14.7 m)
Depth20.8 ft (6.3 m)
Decks3
Installed power423 NHP, 3,000 hp
Propulsion
Speed14 knots (26 km/h)
Crew74

SS Koombana was a passenger steamship that was built in Scotland in 1908 for the Adelaide Steamship Company, for coastal liner services between Fremantle and the northwest coast of Western Australia. She sank in a tropical cyclone somewhere off Port Hedland in 1912,[1] with the loss of all 150 people aboard.[2] Her loss was one of Australia's worst weather-related maritime disasters in the twentieth century.[1]

In April and May 1909, Koombana took the Premier of Western Australia, Newton Moore, on a tour of the northwest, which included the official opening of the jetty at Port Hedland,[3][4] now the highest tonnage port in Australia.[5] Koombana was also the first ship to berth at that jetty.[4]

In November 1910, Koombana was part of a welcoming flotilla of vessels at Broome, Western Australia for the arrival in Australia of the Royal Australian Navy's first two destroyers, HMAS Parramatta and Yarra. In November 1911, Koombana was the subject of an industrial dispute that had consequences throughout Australia.[6]

Koombana's loss in 1912 led to the Adelaide Steamship Co's withdrawal from serving the northwest coast.[7] This led the Government of Western Australia to create the State Shipping Service of Western Australia, which dominated that trade for the rest of the twentieth century.[8]

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