The Capitaine Bougainville Theatre is named after the Noumea-registered 3614-tonne cargo vessel Capitaine Bougainville, carrying a crew of twenty nine and eight passengers, that sank during a voyage from Auckland to Sydney.
She encountered stormy weather less than a day into the voyage, and at about 2:00am on September 3, 1975, fire broke out in the engine room.
Despite the crew's efforts to control the fire, by 2.40am it was out of control and all power had been lost.
The burning vessel was caught in high winds, heavy rain and mountainous waves estimated at 12 metres.
She was also caught in a strong current that swung the ship beam-on to the wind, making launching the lifeboats extremely hazardous. Some lifeboats were broached and overturned. Sixteen lives were lost.
The Capitaine Bougainville Theatre at Forum North is named after and partly built of materials salvaged from the ship.