I can still shut my eyes and picture the first time i saw the wreck of the Maheno 22 years ago. It was just beginning to rain and the wind was howling onshore stirring up the smell of rust and drying marine growth .The groaning structure shuddered with every wave on the falling tide and the squally rain had driven off the last tour bus in the fading light. I explored the wreck alone until dark before setting off for Happy Valley on foot.  I had just hitch-hiked to Fraser Island for the first time, via Teewah and Rainbow Beach. Life for me was simple then and  living on Noosa North Shore ,  I walked down to the beach  without so much as a tent in my youthful wisdom , put my finger out , and off I went.

I was always a shipwreck buff as a kid having grown up around Newcastle, I remember climbing and snorkeling around the areas many wrecks from the time I could swim.  1992 found me living on the Sunshine Coast. I was 18 with plenty of time on my hands, working only part time for a local wildlife rescue service. I spent many hours haunting the local library, too broke to do much else and it was here, in the local history section that I first saw a photo of the Maheno wreck. It was a grainy old copy taken a few years earlier but I was hooked. I went home grabbed a few tins of food , a fork ,  a hat  ,a towel and a tiny fishing rod and left for Fraser Island that same day . I spent the first night at the Cherry Venture wreck, arriving on Fraser by lunch time the next day. Tailor were running at the time so I had no problem hitching a ride from the 100's 4WD's racing from gutter to gutter in a fishing frenzy. I did cop a bit of flak for my ridiculously inadequate fishing rod though and in retrospect, I spent most of the trip living on Pipis.

I would spend the next 3 days exploring the Maheno and surrounds before the weather (and lack of food) forced me home .

Over the past 20 years I have thought much about that first, short trip to the Maheno and the profound effect it must have had on me. I can't really be sure if it was my impressionable age, the Majesty of the wreck itself or an attraction more spiritual, but something definitely clicked with me. Upon arriving home I began to gather all the information i could find , starting with books , then  interviewing  locals who were good enough to share their memories and photo's with me . In the course of all this research I also began to purchase Maheno relics, souvenired or sold from the wreck back in the 1930's.

After a few years it had grown to a substantial collection and I realized there was little point in recording and saving all this for prosperity if no-one ever saw it. So in a move I’ll once again put down to youthful wisdom i decided to compile and write a book on the wreck and it's place in Fraser Coast tourism. Those early, poorly written manuscripts slowly evolved into a complete service history of the ship and cultural significance study of the wreck. My artefact collection had also grown to the point that I am now trying to develop a museum to house it.

 One undeniable pattern I've noticed in  the people I've meet through my Maheno studies , is that I'm not alone in my love for this old wreck  . Most people who have spent any time at the Maheno speak of the structure with a fondest usually reserved for grander things than a dilapidated abandoned Hulk.

There is a real sense of ownership among today’s Fraser Islanders that extends to the people of Hervey Bay and Maryborough , who usually refer  the Maheno as "our wreck " and have turned out in droves to the  public exhibits I’ve held to commemorate  the 70th ,75th & 80th Anniversaries of the ships grounding .

My hope is that the following pages may raise awareness of this most important relic and encourage people to visit Fraser Island and the Maheno so it remains one of the regions premier tourist attractions. I feel as the structure becomes more dilapidated and increasingly restricted it stands a real risk of being lost to history, or even worse destroyed by bureaucrats in the name of public safety as was the famous Cherry Venture wreck at Double Island Point. The Maheno has been good to the Region helping to generate tourism dollars for over 80 years and its loss would be a very sad one indeed.