The Western Australian Museum, on behalf of a broad partnership, has won a prestigious Museums and Galleries National Award for international best practice in research for work on some of Australia’s earliest shipwrecks. The research uses new technology and techniques to improve our understanding of the past.

Shipwrecks of the Roaring Forties: A Maritime Archaeological Reassessment of some of Australia’s Earliest Shipwrecks is a project led by the WA Museum and The University of Western Australia, with partners Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Curtin University, Flinders University, the British Museum, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Australia, the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, National Archives of the Netherlands, Prospero Productions, the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology, and Tasmania Parks & Wildlife Service. It is funded by the Australian Research Council.

The project returned to shipwreck sites first visited more than 40 years ago to examine how investigating maritime archaeological sites has changed, and apply new technologies which resulted in significant new finds. Researchers re-investigated early European wrecks of Batavia (1629), Vergulde Draek (1656), Zeewijk (1727), and Rapid (1811), focusing on re-examining terrestrial sites including burial sites.

WA Museum CEO Alec Coles said many people did not realise the amount of original research carried out by museums.

“The WA Museum is at the forefront of maritime archaeology research because we have such a rich maritime heritage here, with more than 1500 known shipwrecks along our coast,” Mr Coles said.

“This project has been lauded as international best practice in the investigation and interpretation of underwater cultural heritage and this award, from peers across Australia, recognises the quality and significance of this work.

“This prize has been awarded to the WA Museum as this is a museum award, but in reality it is an award for all the partners, especially our joint lead partner The University of Western Australia.”

Research outcomes include extremely successful expeditions to the Abrolhos Islands where geophysical surveys and testing of burial sites and potential survivor camps associated with the Batavia mutiny led to the discovery of 13 sets of human remains.  Further excavations uncovered what is believed to be the execution site of the Batavia mutineers.    

MAGNA judges said: “This project represents a valuable and timely reassessment of existing archaeological evidence and through a diverse range of partnerships has provided new data and interpretive output that will generate significant public and academic interest. The thorough usage of new and emerging technologies in this project makes it an excellent exemplar of modern archaeological practice.”

The research has led to new interpretations of significant European and Australian shared history, and will feature in the New Museum for Western Australia due to open in the Perth Cultural Centre in 2020. It is also contributing to the development of a new national park in the Abrolhos Islands, off Geraldton.

 

Mara Pritchard

Manager Communications and Media, Western Australian Museum

6552 7803

mara.pritchard@museum.wa.gov.au