Documentary Revives 150-Year-Old Shipwreck Story of the Geltwood

It has been 150 years since she was wrecked off SA's south-east coast, but the story of the Geltwood is still being told.

The ship came to grief in June 1876 in a storm, described at the time as a hurricane, hit on its maiden voyage from England.

The 31 passengers and crew aboard were presumed to have drowned.

The wreck was not found until the 1980s and, more than 40 years later, former local Lyndal Redman brings the tale to the screen.

Ms Redman's connection to the shipwreck is familial. Her father Kym dived on the wreck and used his boat to help recover artefacts from the ship.

"I stumbled across some amazing footage that my dad had filmed back in the 80s," she said.

Decades of intrigue and controversy

Millicent local Lisa Braes, who provided historical background on the wreck for the documentary, said while many people knew of the Geltwood, they did not know much about it.

She said because of significant looting and auctioning of parts of the wreck that washed ashore in 1876, artefacts had found their way into many people's lives.

"So many local people have been touched by the story," she said.

Ms Redman said the controversy, and her familial link, made it a quick documentary to put together.

"I knew there was such history and such shame around it because [of] the looting that happened," she said.

"I knew so much about the Geltwood already that it was quite an easy process for me."

Among the people telling the story of the Geltwood was Rendelsham's Brian Foster, whose father-in-law Mick Galpin discovered the wreck.

"I went down with Mick to have a look at it, just using conventional scuba gear," he said.

"Everyone had heard about the Geltwood Beach, but that was basically all I knew."

Preserving, not looting

The divers brought up artefacts from the wreck, many of which are still on display at museums in Millicent and Beachport on the Limestone Coast.

However, contemporary media reporting was not kind to their preservation efforts.

"The local divers were also accused by the Adelaide media of looting the ship," Ms Braes said.

"They were only bringing the things up off the wreck for prosperity."

Ms Braes said the divers eventually received an apology from the local papers.

"They were in a way honouring the people … that lost their lives," she said.

Ms Redman said the release of the documentary had brought even more artefacts with a connection to the Geltwood to light, even overseas.

"I got an email from a lady in Poland; she said, 'I've just stumbled across this family bible that was from … one of the mates on the Geltwood,'" she said.

"It's amazing that we have this local connection with this history."

Huge support for local history

The documentary has struck a nerve with many people across the region, surprising even Ms Redman.

"It got to the point where we had to put extra chairs out to fill the space.

"The biggest thing for me was just that support from the community — the people that came to see it, the people that came up to me afterwards and said, 'This is an amazing part of our history, and thank you for capturing it.'"

Mr Foster said he had been very impressed by both the reception and the documentary itself.

"It's good to have it preserved for the future, because we're not going to be here forever, but Lyndal's documentary should be," he said.