Artwork depicts the Star of Greece breaking up close to the shore at Port Willunga. The artist has included figures on the beach in the foregroud, and others being washed ashore along with fragments of the ship. Escarpment and jetty are illustrated in the distance to the left. Star of Greece was a 3 masted iron ship of 1,257 tons. Built in Belfast in 1868, the Star of Greece, laden with 16,000 bags of wheat, was wrecked in a violent storm off Port Willunga on the 13th July 1888. She sailed from Port Adelaide with a north-westerly behind her. However during the night the wind changed direction and the storm arose with squalls and rain. The ship was driven off course and ashore at Port Willunga. It is estimated that up to 18 seamen lost their lives when the vessel broke up, or in attempting to swim ashore. A marble obelisk marks the grave of the eleven seamen whose bodies were recovered and buried in the cemetery of the Aldinga Methodist (now Uniting) Church.

The site of the wreck lies close to suburban Adelaide making the wreck site one of the best known and most accessible in South Australia. It is marked with a buoy visible from the beach. The ship was only 200 metres from shore when it broke in two amidships at 2.00am.The alarm was raised at 7.20am by a young boy taking his morning walk but because the Willunga telegraph station did not open until 9.00am, the harbourmaster was unable to contact authorities to begin rescue operations.

The appalling nature of this wreck revealed the flaws in the state of the lifeboat rescue network. As a result early in 1889 the task of managing it was placed in the hands of the colonial navy under Commander Walcot and the crew of HMCS Protector. Immediately training and practice drills were set in place and regular inspection and maintenance of lifeboats and other equipment undertaken.