The first historical marker in place. If the writing in this photo is too small to read, you'll have to go to Wreck Point and read the original! Photo courtesy Mary Bevis.

The Capricorn Coast Historical Society has decided to take the region's history to the people by putting up heritage markers around the area.

Marker at Wreck Point

Mary Bevis, Vice president of the Capricorn Coast Historical Society, says there has been an enormous influx of new people in the area and the stories about the historic spots in the shire are being lost. So, about five years ago the society decided to install markers to tell the stories of various places in the Livingstone Shire. The first nine markers in the batch have been made up and the first, the Wreck Point Marker, is already in place. There are plans to expand the scheme, with a possible 60 markers in the works. The markers will tell the stories of just sites but whole streets, heritage buildings, even a whole township such as Cawarral. "A lot of tourists come through the area and we'd like to have these markers up with the story, and then a guide for them to follow so that they can drive around and look at them," Mary says.

The first marker, at Wreck Point, tells the story of a boat called the Selina.

"The Selina was launched down at Petrie's Bite, took off and went up to Pine Rivers to get a load of pine and cedar logs to go to Sydney," Mary explains.

"They headed off down to Sydney with the owner, the captain and a crew of four and was never seen again.

"Quite some time later the boat was found beached at Keppel Bay with its mast missing and its load of logs still intact. There was no sign of the crew.

"The boat that found the Selina left one of its men behind, they refloated the Selina and left their man to keep it afloat by bailing, pumping out the water.

"They left him with three week's supply of provisions. Well, seven months later another boat came back and found the Selina sunk in about 6 fathoms of water.

"They anchored overnight and in the morning they fired their guns - the man who had been left behind came back out. He'd had to go ashore to live because his provisions had run out.

"Of course once he stopped bailing, the ship filled with water and sank. So they picked him up and took off and the ship is still somewhere on the bottom of Keppel Bay and presumably parts of the ship must've washed up, to give it the name Wreck Point."

The Capricorn Coast Historical Society obtained a State Government Grant to pay for this project, and the Livingstone Shire Council matched the grant and are doing the work necessary to get the markers up.