A residency on King Island

I was at the scene of Australia’s worst ever (civil) maritime disaster yesterday. It’s on the S-W coast of King Island, where almost 175 years ago a barque named the Cataraqui ran aground. Over the next two days in stormy conditions, 399 people, mostly young couples with children, perished on the reefs as they tried to get off the rapidly disintegrating ship. It was pretty moving standing there and imagining the terrible scene, as over 400 new economic migrants died trying to make a new start in our country. They came under the UK’s assisted passage scheme for the poor and ended up buried in a mass grave on an island not far from the Australian mainland. This is starting to sound familiar…