The monument to the HMAS Brisbane sits on the top of Alexandra headland, and features one of the original arials from the ship. If one sights between the mast and the bow of the ship, and imagines a spot five kilometres off shore, one can pinpoint the location of the hulk.
From Wikipedia:
Brisbane was sunk as a dive wreck off the coast of Queensland. Her bridge and one of her 5-inch (127 mm) guns were removed and preserved at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, which were incorporated into the post-1945 galleries, which opened in 2007.
Brisbane was sunk approximately 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) off the coast of Mudjimba, Sunshine Coast, Queensland, 31 July 2005 in 30 metres (98 ft) of water. Brisbane was filled with approximately 200 tonnes of concrete, and 38 small charges were detonated to breach the hull, the activation of which was performed by Queensland State Premier Peter Beattie. Brisbane sank in two and a half minutes. The top of her funnels can be seen lying just three metres below the water at low tide. A 2009 study of the value of protected areas found that the wreck had contributed AU$18 million to the Sunshine Coast economy.
I was high on the hill above Alexandra Headland on that fateful day, 31 July 2005, and took the following sequence of shots (from about seven kilometres distance on the old point and shoot!)
10:15 am
Charges are detonated. Each has been positioned so that when the ship is breached it will fill and sink so that it lies upright on the bottom, to maximise it's value as a dive wreck.
10:17 am
Smoke still wafts gently from the interior, but nothing seems to be happening.
10:18 am
and she begins to slip away.
10:19 am
All that remains is a throng of spectator craft and a fleet of helicopters, all moored outside a one kilometre exclusion zone.
We leave with a strange feeling; we've just seen a warship sink.
Alexandra Headland
Don't forget to check out other Skywatch photos today, and please note that although I have not participated in the City Daily Photo blogs "best photo of the year" theme today, there are hundreds of spectacular photos to be found should one care to follow this link.
10 comments
What a strange series of photos. I have seen a bridge demolished with explosives, but never anything like a warship! The fist photo has a feeling of remoteness to it. In place, in time.
Three Rivers Daily Photo
That is a wonderful series of pictures!
The most interesting post. And all this spectaculary pictures to watch...
Nice weekend from Norway.
A great series of shots.
Sydney - City and Suburbs
Really intersting. That would have been something to see.
Hey, enjoyed this post very much. Like the shape of the memorial too.
Now, to that economic statistic in there. Overblown crap, to use Mr Abbott's vernacular.
Added $18m to the local economy. How? Value of fish. Selling Mr Whippy to tourists at the lookout?
Politicians (and bureaucrats) can justify anything.
You have a great blog here. I like checking out travel blogs much like yours at times. I have a blog myself which I hope will be a great resource for those looking to go on vacation. I want everyone to get that "vacation feeling" every time they come to my site. You know what I'm talking about.
I'd like to exchange links with you to help spread some traffic around between each other. Please let me know if this is possible. Until then, keep up the good work.
Jason
ThatVACATIONfeeling.com
Very nice series.
I saw a document some weeks ago about this.
Julie, I did some maths.
In four years you'd need 30 people per day spending $400 in the community. Sounds far fetched? Probably easy to do counting food accomodation dive costs and so on. Doesn't it all add up when you're having fun?
Wonderful shot!:-)
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