Everyone who has been to Caloundra's Dicky Beach knows of the story of the SS Dicky, which was washed ashore on the beach during a cyclone on February 4, 1893.

The slowly-rusting wreck of the SS Dicky has been part of family photographs for many decades until the worn hulk was removed from the beach by the Sunshine Coast Council in July 2015.

Parts of the wreck will become part of a permanent display at the beach, while the rest will become a feature at the Sunshine Coast museum in Caloundra.

However one mystery remained.

What happened to the ship's bell? What happened to the bell of the SS Dicky?

As the 226-tonne SS Dicky was being washed ashore on that fateful night in February 1893, the bell would have been clanging loudly letting everyone know of the dangers ahead.

But the bell was lost when wreck was stripped. It was used by swimmers in years gone by to change into their swimming costumes.

And presumably someone took the bell of the SS Dicky.

And then a letter was discovered. It was a letter found in the archives of the Dicky Beach Surf Club.

And the letter told how the bell of the SS Dicky had been bought by the Henderson family at an auction of the ship's goods after the shipwreck.

It became the work bell signalling lunch hour and the comings and goings at Sun Engineering Works in their Fortitude Valley workshop until 1930.

Then, when the Sun Engineering plant closed in Fortitude Valley in 1930, after the death of Mr Henderson snr, the SS Dicky bell passed through family hands to its current owner, Russell Henderson.

The letter - which had not been opened for many years - told how the SS Dicky bell was at Russell Henderson's house at Norman Park.

The Henderson family subsequently were contacted and allowed the original SS Dicky's bell to be recast three times by Olds Engineering in Maryborough.

Sunshine Coast Division 2 Councillor Tim Dwyer thanked the Henderson family for allowing the council to send the original bell to the heritage maritime specialist foundry in Maryborough to have it recast.

"One of the bells will now be held in council's Cultural Heritage collection and will be on display as part of the SS Dicky Museum Box at Caloundra Library until April 20," Cr Dwyer said.

"The second bell will be on public display at the Landsborough Museum, which has a maritime collection, and the third bell will feature in the Dicky Beach park redevelopment."

The retired managing director of Maryborough Olds Engineering, Peter Olds, cast the three replica bells and helped unveil some of the original bell's mysteries.

"Each bell has its own interesting feature and the SS Dicky bell was unusual in that the original engraving by chisel was spelt 'Dickx'," Mr Olds said.

"It appears someone had added the bottom stroke to make the 'x' a 'y'," he said.

"The SS Dicky was built in Germany so I wondered whether there was a link to the German-spelt Dickx name. It is a bit of a mystery," he said.

"The top of the original bell was broken and it had a very thin throat on one side so we fixed those faults before using it to create the sand moulds into which the replicas were poured or cast."

The SS Dicky Museum Box will be on display at Caloundra Library until April 20 and includes historic items including letters, courtesy of the Dicky Beach Surf Club, and a range of photos capturing the significance of the iconic SS Dicky.