The Wreck of the Dunbar


The Wreck of the Dunbar is a 1887 Australian stage play based on the 1857 shipwreck of the Dunbar off Sydney. It was written and presented by Alfred Dampier. The play was performed by Dampier and his family.
Leslie Rees said " As the plot developed, it moved further and further from the terrible shipping disaster of 1857. The critics gave it a drubbing—“a shabby weary weeping little screed sadder than a midnight goat and filled with bile and ignominy”, wrote one. Not even driftwood was left of The Wreck of the Dunbar after its few performances."
The Sydney Morning Herald said "The plot is broadly sketched, with a free admixture of pathetic and ridiculous situations."
Other accounts were more favourable.