Our Batavia ship

A voyage of discovery into the world of the 17th-century shipbuilder

Wed 2 Dec 2015

6:00pm – 7:00pm

WA Maritime Museum

Online Booking

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Dr Wendy van Duivenvoorde, Senior Lecturer, Maritime Archaeology Program, Flinders University NWS Theatre, WA Maritime Museum

Holland’s mercantile fleets dominated the global trade in spice in the 1600s which moved the most valuable commodity of the era around the globe. The technical advances of these ships were a product of the building techniques used in the Dutch shipyards at that time. An interesting fact about this maritime story is that the most valuable clues to the shipbuilding secrets of the Dutch haven’t come from the historical record, but from the archaeological remains of Australia’s most famous shipwreck, Batavia. The ship sank on June 4, 1629 on Morning Reef off the coast of Western Australia, laden with silver and eight months into its maiden voyage to the Dutch East Indies (modern Indonesia). Its remains represent the only section of a 17th-century Dutch East India Company ship, a section of its larboard counter and hull side that has been raised, conserved and thus become available for study.

Join us for a Batavia Series lecture as Dr Wendy van Duivenvoorde presents the research discoveries published in her new book, which reveal new insights into the story of the Dutch merchant fleet through the archaeology of the Batavia wreck.
 

COST: $12 per person to be paid on arrival. Includes light refreshments after the lecture.

BOOKINGS: Essential online: museum.wa.gov.au/museums/maritime or 1300 134 081.

Please RSVP by 5.00pm, Monday 30 November.
 

Audio Support Available

We have a limited number of discreet personal audio support units (ie. volume-controlled earphone units) available for audience use in the North West Shelf Theatre.

If you would like to reserve one for this event, please contact the Maritime Museum information desk on 08 9431 8334.

As a courtesy to other patrons, if you have reserved an audio support unit and are unable to attend this event, please let our Visitor Services staff know to release your booking.

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