Well Keg if you reckon that's a myth then you'll love this one....
It's on the best authority of all, the Townsville refuellers flatmate, so can in no way thus be discredited.
Did you ever wonder why in the mid-80's Qantas changed aircraft livery from this:
VH-EBA Boeing 747
to this?:
VH-EAL Boeing 767
You'll notice the absence of the fuselage-long stripe from nose to tail on the newer version?
In nautical terms this stripe is known as a lubber-line (or plimsol line I believe). This is used to ascertain whether a vessel is misloaded by comparing the line with that of the sea-surface.
Perhaps Qantas wanted to avoid the double Department of Aviation scrutiny of both the famous PER near-ditching
and a mis-loading issue.