SS Yongala was a passenger ship that sank off Cape Bowling Green on 23 March , 1911 on its way to from Melbourne , Australia to Cairns she entered into a cyclone and sank without a trace south of Townsville . The passenger ship SS Yongala sank off Cape Bowling Green , Queensland , Australia on 23 March 1911 . En route from Melbourne to Cairns she steamed into a cyclone and sank south of Townsville .