Ship's Bell from SS Karrakatta

On 26 March 1901 coastal steamer Karrakatta ran aground on an uncharted pinnacle rock while rounding Swan Point in the Kimberley. The fast, luxurious, steel-hulled steamer of 1,271 tons was owned by the West Australian Steam Navigation Company. It was purpose built in Kinghorn, Scotland, in 1897 for the booming Fremantle to Singapore coastal run. 

Under the command of Captain Henry Talboys the vessel left Fremantle on 14 March with a crew of 79, a full complement of passengers and the largest cargo that had been taken from the Port of Fremantle for the North-West and Singapore. 

The schooner Alto, under Captain Frank Biddles (master pearler), was the first vessel to respond to Karrakatta's distress signals. As a reward for assisting with the rescue of passengers and crew he was presented with the ship's bell. 

Frank Biddles gave the bell to his brother Percy in Queensland. For many years it was used on the family's sugar plantation and mill, on the banks of the Mary River at Netherby, to call the Kanaka labourers in from the sugar fields. 

The bell was brought back from Queensland, courtesy of Mr Garth Jacobson, a descendant of Percy Biddles, who kindly donated it to the Western Australian Museum.