The January 9, 2010, Brisbane Times and Jan. 10, Sunshine Daily report that the day before, the wreck of the SS Kyogle was filmed as a practice before the trip out to the Centaur. It is also located near Moreton Island and at one time thought to be the Centaur until 2002.
However, it was used by the RAAF for target practice in the 1950s. David Mearns and his 33 crew members of the Seahorse Spirit found the Kyogle 17 kilometers off the Moreton Island Lighthouse and dived to squash the still-held rumor that this was the Centaur and test the equipment. In 2002, diver Trevor Jackson set a world record for wreck diving and reported it was too small to be the Centaur.
Mearns found that the two bronze propellers had been taken off the wreck and done so by the Royal Australian Air Force (bronze being quite expensive) before scuttling it. Plus, the ship was covered with shell holes and no hole the size a torpedo would make was found. Definitely the SS Kyogle.
The 702 ton Kyogle was built in 1902 in Glasgow, Scotland. It was 180 feet long and had a 30.1 foot beam. In 1934 it was reduced to a barge, then sold for scrap before the Australian government purchased it for target practice. It was sunk December 5, 1951.
A Little Practice Never Hurt Anybody. --DaCoot
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