Stefano

The wreck of the Austro-Hungarian barque Stefano is one of Western Australia's most dramatic shipwreck survivor stories.

Stefano was transporting a cargo of coal from Cardiff to Hong Kong with 17 crew, when on 27 October 1875 it wrecked on Ningaloo Reef, south of Point Cloates. Only ten crew survived to reach the mainland. After three months the group was struck by a cyclone, following which eight men died from thirst, exposure and poisoning from eating toxic plants. 

The remaining two crew Miho Baccich (16 years old) and Ivan Jurich (19 years old) resorted to cannibalism to survive, before being discovered by local Yinikurtira (West Talanjdi) people. The Yinikurtira nursed them to health over the next three months and guided them to Northwest Cape. On 19 April 1876 Captain Charles Tuckey in his pearling cutter Jessie found Baccich and Jurich, and took them to Fremantle.

After many years of searching, a team from WA Museum discovered the wreck on 19 April 1998.