HMVS Cerberus to be subject of $20,000 heritage report

A MONTH after voting to pour $500,000 of concrete into HMVS Cerberus, a council will now splash out $20,000 on a “heritage report” for the landmark shipwreck.

Bayside Council will spend $20,000 to prepare a heritage report on HMVS Cerberus.

A MONTH after voting to pour $500,000 of concrete into HMVS Cerberus, Bayside Council will now splash out $20,000 on a “heritage report” for the landmark shipwreck.

The wreck is now close to collapse, and a diver died after becoming trapped inside in 2010.

Launched in 1868 and scuttled in 1926 as a breakwater in Half Moon Bay, the Cerberus is on the National Heritage Register, and surrounded by a 25m exclusion zone.

RELATED: Cerberus future in doubt over council concrete fill-in plan

But there have been years of inaction as various arms of government and lobbyists have been unable to decide how to fix it.

The council last night agreed to splash $20,000 on consultants to prepare a “heritage permit application” to access $500,000 in funding promised by the Federal Government to save the breakwater.

They also want Federal reimbursement of any expenses, if the application was unsuccessful.

The council will also contact the Royal Australian Navy to get its input on the wreck’s future.

Cr Laurence Evans said they needed to push ahead: “Let’s get on with this.”

But Friends of the Cerberus president John Rogers said he was frustrated the group was only emailed details of last night’s council recommendations on Friday, and the group hadn’t been consulted for four years.

The Federal Government chipped in $500,000 to kickstart safety works in 2009. The money has sat in a trust since because authorities and heritage groups couldn’t agree on what to do.

The Cerberus was the first ship in the world to incorporate the combination of a central superstructure with fore and aft gun turrets.

But despite big fines imposed if anyone is caught there, swimmers and divers often trespass.