Directly it was arranged that the numerous bodies lying at the hospital should have a public funeral. No time was lost in giving the matter publicity. A large number of placards together with an announcement in the extraordinary publication of the Newcastle Chronicle, of Tuesday, made the decision arrived at by the public meeting, pretty generally known by an early hour on the morning the funeral was to take place. More publicity would doubtless have been given, had time permitted, which it did not. However, everything that could be done under the circumstances was done, and the immense concourse of people who attended to witness the funeral, obsequies performed, pointed very conclusively to the fact, that the committee of management had done their work well.

The morning of Tuesday broke cloudless and serene. A more beautiful day is seldom experienced, even in the sunny clime of Australia. The sun shone out resplendently from an unclouded sky, and the air was soft and balmy - it was more like a spring day, in fact, than one in mid-winter. As early as half-past eight or nine o'clock groups of people, many of whom were clad in the habiliments of mourning, might have been observed wending their way in the direction of the hospital. As every quarter of an hour passed over the number increased, and by half-past nine o'clock an assemblage of persons, numbering in round numbers, somewhere about a thousand, had congregated in front of the hospital. The time appointed for the funeral procession to start, was ten o'clock, but it was fully half an hour later than that, when the head of the cortege was first observed to be in motion. At a quarter-past ten o'clock the first preparations were made for starting, by the drawing up in front of the hospital, the various drays and hearses, in which the corpses were conveyed to the churchyard. It took seven drays and two hearses to hold all the coffins, which were lifted from the building onto the conveyances by members of the Naval Brigade, under the superintendence of the gentlemen composing the committee appointed by the public meeting held on the previous day. The whole of the coffins having at last been placed upon the drays and the hearses, Mr. J. Hannell, M.P., on behalf of the committee, ascended an elevated mound of sand to the right of the hospital, and announced the order in which the procession was to move. It was as follows: -

The clergymen of the city, three abreast, consisting of the Revs. Mr. Mayne, Mr. Coutts, Mr. Prichard, Mr. Lane, Mr. Gainford and Mr. Bain.

The Committee of Management, consisting of Captain Allen, James Hannell, Esq., M.P., and Dr. Brookes.

Hearse No. 1, containing the body of the late Captain Chatfield, commander of the Cawarra, and Mr. McDowell, chief mate.

Hearse No. 2, containing the bodies of Mr. Fountain, chief engineer of the Cawarra, and Mr. Auchinclose, second engineer.

Members of Naval Brigade on either side, same as first hearse.

Mr. J.R. Fox and Mr. Dagwell in command of the Naval Brigade.

Dray No. 1, containing four bodies.

Dray No. 2, containing three bodies.

Dray No. 3, containing three bodies.

Dray No. 4, containing two bodies.

Dray No. 5, containing two bodies.

Dray No. 6, containing two bodies.

Dray No. 7, containing two bodies.

Two members of the Naval Brigade on either side of each dray.

Relatives and friends of the deceased.

Captains and officers of the ships in port.

Seamen belonging to vessels in port.

His Worship the Mayor (S. Kemp, Esq.).

Aldermen composing the Municipal Council and the Town Clerk, Citizens, four abreast.

Having announced the order in which the procession was to go, Mr. James Hannell requested on behalf of the committee that every one would, to the best of their ability, observe the arrangement decided upon. The gentlemen composing the Naval Brigade had consented to act as pallbearers, and also to keep a line from the churchyard gate to the church. He trusted their efforts would be seconded by the public generally, so that no accident or confusion might occur when the funeral service was being conducted.

About this time the report of the first minute gun was heard, fired by the Volunteer Artillery in Barrack Square.

The scene at this moment was a most solemn and impressive one, and brought tears to many an eye. Right in the front of the spot on which the bulk of the people stood, could be discerned the fatal bank on which the Cawarra was lost, - immediately at hand were no less than twenty two lifeless bodies, representing the form of as many human beings who but a short time previously, were in the enjoyment of their usual health and strength, - to the right was the mighty Pacific, the fury of whose waves had been the cause of so much bereavement and sorrow, but which now presented the appearance of comparative tranquillity and repose, -on the left hand, in the distance, was the graveyard - the last, long home, where the inanimate and mangled remains of the dead were about to be deposited, - above, was a bright and unclouded sky, forming a sharp and striking contrast to the day on which the calamity that had brought together such an immense assemblage, happened - and then last, though not least in impressiveness and significance, there were the upturned faces of hundreds of human beings who were about reverently to listen to the reading of the words of Him who permitted, doubtless for some wise end, the occurrence of so fearful a catastrophe. Added to all this, there was the booming of the minute guns, which breaking in upon, as they did, with startling suddenness the impressive ceremony, tended materially to heighten the general effect. Altogether, it was a mournful and affecting sight, and one calculated to move the feelings of the most indifferent and callous. At this time the number of people present had increased probably to about fifteen or sixteen hundred. Throughout the city, business was almost entirely suspended, all the shops being closed. The flags from all the vessels in harbour, as well as from a number of buildings in the city, including the Custom House, were floating half-mast high. The whole town wore an aspect of gloom and sorrow.

The procession was then formed in the manner indicated above, and proceeded slowly up Watt Street, and along Church Street to the Christchurch burial ground. On arriving at the churchyard gates - the coffins were taken from the hearses and drays and carried on the shoulders of the men composing the Naval Brigade, to an open space in front of the church doors, which was kept clear by the committee, assisted by the police and members of the Naval Brigade. Upon the first three coffins being brought in, they were met by the Rev. Mr. Bode, and the Rev. Mr. Millard, who preceded the corpses, intoning alternately the introductory verses to the Church of England Burial Services. The rest of the bodies were then brought in and placed on the open space in front of the church, in the form of a semi-circle. All the coffins were covered with flags. This sad task occupied from fifteen to twenty minutes. All this time the minute guns had continued firing, and the bell of the church had been tolling. The whole of the coffins having at length been brought in, the two clergymen before named, ascended a temporary dais in front of the church doors, and proceeded to read that portion of the Burial Service usually read over the body inside the church. The Psalms were read by both clergymen, Mr. Bode reading one verse, and Mr. Millard another, alternatively. The lesson for such occasions, taken from the 1st epistle of Corinthians, and the 15th chapter, was read by the Rev. Mr. Millard in a very impressive manner.

The number of people present at this stage of the proceedings was very large, much larger than before starting from the hospital, altogether there must have been close upon 3,000 persons within the boundary of the churchyard. We are convinced that 3,000 was the outside number, notwithstanding that opinions have been expressed to the contrary. We heard the number variously estimated from three to six thousand. That portion of the service which is generally read inside the church being concluded, and before the bodies were removed to the grave, the Rev. Mr. Bode then addressed the assemblage.

On Wednesday afternoon between four and five o'clock, nine more bodies were interred in the Christchurch burial ground. The funeral services were conducted by the Rev. Mr. Bode. A considerable number of persons witnessed the interment of the bodies. The young lady passenger (Miss Anderson) was buried previous to the nine men, and thanks to the Christian feeling and humanity of the Rev. Mr. Bode, her body was placed in a coffin similar to that in which Captain Chatfield's body was interred. A third internment took place on Thursday, on which occasion three more bodies were committed to the dust.

A monument is to be erected to the memory of the drowned with the expenses to be defrayed by public subscription.

We had nearly omitted to mention that Mr. Archibald Hay had the conduct of the procession, and was the undertaker for the funerals of Captain Chatfield and the officers of the Cawarra. Mr. Lewis Wood had the contract for the shells in which the remaining bodies were interred.

The Government appointed a Commission, consisting of Mr E. O. Moriarty, Engineer-in-Chief for Harbours and Rivers; Captain Hixson, Superintendent of Harbours, Light-houses and Pilots; and Captain Goss, Mail Agent – to inquire into the general management of the life boat at Newcastle, the allegations of delay in launching her, and the efficiency exhibited during the late storm. They were also to inquire into the recent wrecks and lamentable loss of life, with a view to an improved management of the life-boat, if found to be defective, and to prevent, so far as possible, a recurrence of such heart-rending scenes as those witnessed during the late gale.

When the lifeboat was finally launched and made its way to the Oyster Bank most of those on board the Cawarra were already gone.  By the time it arrived close to the doomed ship the lifeboat itself was also in trouble.  Most of its oars had broken or were lost overboard and many of the crew were experienced.  It was this that caused the delay in launching.  The captain of the lifeboat, James Taylor, a pilot was further up the harbour when the Cawarra tragedy occurred.  He had just piloted the Victory into the harbour.  With Taylor absent it fell to the acting harbour-master, Captain Alexander Collins, to skipper the lifeboat.  He was reluctant to do so because the available crew were mostly inexperienced.  He had to pull one drunken crew member from the boat before if was finally launched. 

Captain Collins also called for a full inquiry as he had been blamed for the lifeboat's failure to put to sea earlier than it did.  The inquiry exonerated Captain Collins but decided that there was unnecessary delay in launching the boat; that it was not possible to pinpoint where the delay had occurred; and that it was the system under which the lifeboat worked that was the prime cause of the delay. 

The system was changed.  The lifeboat moved from Stony Point; a lifeboat committee was formed and the lifeboat service was organised along the standards adopted by the Royal National Lifeboat Institute.  It is noted that when the Yarra Yarra was wrecked in the same location in 1877 with the loss of all hands the lifeboat was criticised for being very so to come to aid.

The Government also appointed a Commission of Inquiry to make diligent and full inquiry as to the cause of the loss of the steam-ship Cawarra. The Commission members were Mr E. O. Moriarty, C. H. Smith, Henry T Fox, Thomas Watson and Robert T Moodie. Their report, of 6 November 1866, concluded that the catastrophe was one of those lamentable occurrences that befall at time the best ships and the most experienced commanders, and which human efforts are powerless to avert.

The wreck of the Cawarra was salvaged, and 230 bags of flour, three hogshead of rum, 22 casks of wine and spirits, packets of tea, brass railings, parts of a winch and the anchor were recovered.  The ship broke into two sections and a section of the wreck was sold at action for 125 pounds.

As a warning to ships, a buoy, the Cawarra Buoy, was placed over the wreck.  It remained there for many years before another ship, the Colonist, foundered on the same spot in 1894.  Over the years the Yarra Yarra (1877), the Colonist (1894), the Wendouree (1898), the Lindus (1899) and the Adolphe (1904) all joined the Cawarra.   Remains of the Cawarra are still in Newcastle Harbour, underneath the wreck of many of the above vessels with the Adolphe still to be seen above them.

The sole survivor Frederick Valentine Hedges married an Irish girl, Kate Synnett, whom he met while recuperating after the wreck at the Great Northern Hotel in Newcastle. He was presented with a minature memorial to the people who died around him that July day.  Itis now in the Newcastle Maritime Museum, Fort Scratchley.

Nowadays the Cawarra tragedy is almost forgotten. Only the gravestone of engineer John Fountain can be found among the remaining gravestones in Cathedral Park.  The mass grave, the fence surrounding it and the gravestones are no more.

References:

Newcastle Chronicle – eyewitness accounts

Newcastle Paper - Cawarra Newcastle's worst maritime disaster 125th anniversary

Sydney Morning Herald

Illustrated Sydney News – eyewitness accounts and survivor story

Passenger Entry Lists to Sydney

NSW Death records

NSW Inquest Index

Judy Green - F V Hedges material

A Poem and Song about the Cawarra follow on the last page.