Carrying between 40 and 50 passengers, the Stockton-bound ferry came into a broadside collision with Waraneen and sank halfway across the Hunter River shortly after 10:45pm on the night of 9 August 1934.
The brief interval allowed sufficient time for six passengers on the upper deck to scramble in to the side of Waraneen, while the remainder jumped headlong into the water.
People standing on the Newcastle wharf were unable to discern exactly what was happening in the middle of the harbour, but could hear terrified cries of women and children on board the ferry before it sank, and afterwards as they struggled frantically in the water.
The pilot steamer Birubi, which was moving past the scene at the time of the sinking, lowered a boat and picked up two loads of people while others were rescued by the Water Police launch.
The propellers of the steamer Wailhemo, heading out to sea the following morning, churned the water which broke up the wreckage and released the bodies of two women.