Aerial view of the 'City of Adelaide' shipwreck with trees growing on it, Magnetic Island, Queensland, Australia

Info. Aerial view of the 'City of Adelaide' shipwreck, Magnetic Island, Australia

We’re on the north-east coast of Australia in a small bay of Magnetic Island, looking down upon the sunken hull of the steamship, SS City of Adelaide. The vessel got its start in 1863 as a passenger steamship ferrying travellers and cargo between ports in Melbourne, Sydney, Honolulu and San Francisco. Under sail, it was compared to a beautiful bird in flight. In 1912, the ship was stripped of everything by fire, and in 1916, its burned body grounded here in Cockle Bay while being moved after sale. Now it is an artificial island of sorts to a group of cockatoos who live in the mangroves that have grown from the ship's rusted deck.