[Ronan, Tom, 1964, Packhorse and Pearling Boat, Cassell Australia, Melbourne, Chapter 2]
Chapter 2
Tom Crotty's Grey Mare
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Where was the Koombana? Half the station people and a leavening of townsfolk were returning from the south on board her. Dad’s nephew, Will Smith, was among them. The telegraph line was down all along the coast. It was days before news came through that the ship had left Port Hedland to find deep water before the worst of the cyclone. And that is almost as much as has ever been discovered. It is one of the most complete sea tragedies in history. It was when word came through that the search for the Koombana had been abandoned that I first saw my mother in tears. Will Smith was no blood kin of hers, but he was the sort of lad who won the hearts of everyone, from children like Trix and me to toughened old bush battlers of the sort who worked with him on Napier. I can remember him as being tall and darkeyed, with the assurance of a man and the gusto of a boy. Seldom as we saw him, our little world seemed smaller when we knew he had gone from it forever.
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