W
ylie, a carpenter
and joiner,
began salvaging
Monterey cypress
from bulldozed
windbreaks on farms near his home in
bushland Victoria, initially using the
timber to make furniture.
“I am a keen sailor and with more
than 300 tonnes of logs in my backyard,
I decided to build a boat,” Wylie says.
The inspiration for Notorious was
the legendary “Mahogany Ship’’, a
Portuguese caravel supposedly wrecked
on the coast, west of Warrnambool.
“I grew up in Warrnambool with the
legend of the Mahogany Ship, so it has
always been something of great interest
to me,” says Wylie.
According to a popular theory, the
vessel was one of three caravels on
a secret voyage of discovery down
the east coast of Australia in 1522. Its
wreck was discovered in 1836 by a
whaling party who reported a vessel
“of antiquated design” made from
“hard dark timber, like mahogany”. In
1880, the wreck was covered by storm-
driven sands and, despite numerous
searches, has never been located. With
no physical evidence to prove its origin,
the Mahogany Ship remains a mystery.
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