Shipwreck and salvation: the Stefano story

Public Lecture | Updated 1 decade ago

Image copyright of WA Museum
National Archaeology Week 2011
Photo by Patrick Baker

Professor John Melville-Jones, Classics and Ancient History, University of Western Australia
Dr Michael McCarthy, Curator, Maritime Archaeology, Western Australian Museum; Adjunct Professor, Arts & Sciences, Notre Dame University

6.00pm, Wednesday 18 May
NWS Shipping Theatre

The wooden-hulled three-masted Austro-Hungarian barque Stefano (1873-1876) is one of the most significant of all the colonial-era wrecks in Western Australia. In 1876 two young boys - the only survivors of a crew of 17 - were saved by Aborigines living in the Point Cloates area on the Ningaloo Reef. On the return home of the castaways, their story was recorded by Canon Stefano Skurla of Ragusa (now Dubrovnik). The Italian text of his work was published in Western Australia in 2009, along with an English translation and a number of accompanying essays, including an account of how the wreck was found by the WA Museum’s Maritime Archaeology team.

Celebrate International Museum Day 2011 with Prof John Melville-Jones and Dr ‘Mack’ McCarthy as they examine the wreck, its historical and social significance and the presence of a complete mystery: an as yet unidentified late 19th century wreck nearby which might also have resulted in an interaction with the local Aborigines.

COST: $12 per person. Please join us for refreshments after the lecture
BOOKINGS: Essential on 9431 8455. Please RSVP by 5.00pm, Monday 16 May