lyrics

T.S.S. MAHENO

The Australian coastline is littered with shipwrecks. Many are submerged and unable to be seen. On the beach of Fraser Island lies the wreck of the TSS Maheno.  Maheno is a Maori word meaning island. Although all we see now is a rusting old hull, this ship was once a grand old lady of the sea. She was under tow en-route to Japan to be scrapped for metal when the tow rope broke during a fierce storm in 1935. Although many attempts were made to refloat the vessel, all attempts failed. She was eventually scrapped where she lay trapped on the beach but not before being the host for a local wedding. She was used for target practice during the Second World War. Today she is one of Fraser Island’s best-known tourist attractions.

Shrouded in mist on a long stretch of beach is a fine old lady enshrined
From a working class place back in history, lies a hull washed by rust sand & time
Slipped in mid Scotland in 1905 she was a lady of special renown
With main and  upper class passengers, from Sydney to Nippon was bound
With records from crossings from Wellington & from Melbourne to Sydney before
The Union Steamship Company, once plied our southern shores

Chorus
Nature dealt a change of fate, to that island on the sea
T.S.S. Maheno, you are immersed, in history

Served out at sea for thirty odd years and in the war to end all wars
She was headed for the scrapyard, for a life to be no more
Now a ship can endure bad weather and seas, fierce and mountainous times
But under tow your powerless, and at the mercy of a line
When the hawser gave way from the Unah and with waves crashing broadside
The seas sent Maheno beachward on Thursday July Thirty Five

Chorus

Bridge

Now if you stand in contemplation, near those portholes by the sea
You can hear the sounds of revellery, on the decks, that are no more

Chorus

Repeat Chorus

Noel  Gardner copyright
Corrugated Music