Navy News, Volume 47, Number 19, 21 October 2004

Greycliffe Recalled

Reviewed by Lieut. Aaron Matzkows

For such a busy waterway, Sydney Harbour is remarkably safe. The ferries, warships, water taxis, huge container vessels, yachts and fishing tinnies ply with impunity one of the greatest anchorages and working harbours in the world. Its normally placid mood, though, and with it 40 lives, was shattered at about 4.30 on the afternoon of November 3, 1927, in the worst disaster in the harbour. The 125-foot Sydney Ferries Limited boat Greycliffe was on her way from Circular Quay to Watson’s Bay. She was nicknamed The School Boat because of the large number of students who normally caught her home. She collided with the Union Steamship Company’s RMS Tahiti, bound for New Zealand and the United States. It is not known how many commuters were aboard Greycliffe, but she took a broad cross section of the community with her, among the 40 killed, were 11 RAN personnel and a further five injured. Steve Brew’s in-depth research is broad and meticulous and his conclusions finally tell the story of what happened that very sad Thursday so many years ago.