Cyclone reveals wooden shipwreck — likely from 19th century — in Australia, photos show

A storm has dredged up the past in Australia, revealing a historic shipwreck buried on a New South Wales beach.

The wreck — located in the town of Ballina, about 450 miles north of Sydney — became exposed after Cyclone Alfred swept through the area, according to ABC News.

Photos posted online show segments of its weathered wooden hull protruding from the sand.

“Indications are that they are from the 1890s vessel ‘The Comet,’” according to a March 11 post from the Ballina Naval and Maritime Museum.

The wooden steamship — which measured 95 feet and weighed 82 gross tons — was built in 1873 in Stockton, New South Wales, according to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. It was largely used to transport cargo.

It sank 135 years ago on March 19, 1890, after striking the sand.

This isn’t the first time the vessel’s historic timbers have been visible, though.

“The ship first appeared last October but sand covered it over again,” Ron Creber, the curator of the Ballina Naval and Maritime Museum, told ABC News. “It’s now reappeared, and it’s really exposed in a dangerous part of the beach because that’s the main swimming section.”

In a post on Facebook, a local official reminded residents not to touch the wreck, and doing so could result in fines.

“Many are asking why doesn’t the museum salvage these items?” the museum’s post said. “We are subject to the same rules governing shipwrecks as is the general public.”

Instead of removing the wreck, the museum — upon consultation with marine archaeologists — plans to leave it in place, allowing the sand to cover it again.

This story was originally published March 12, 2025 at 5:53 PM with the headline "Cyclone reveals wooden shipwreck — likely from 19th century — in Australia, photos show."