Shipwreck Databases Western Australian Museum

Beacon Island Interim report on the Department of Maritime Archaeology–University of Western Australia 2014 expedition

Author/s Green, J.N. (ed.)

Year of publication 2014

Report Number: No. 303

Beacon Island is the island where the majority of the survivors of the Batavia shipwreck were located and where many of them died or were killed in the ensuing massacres that took place there. During the 2013 Department of Maritime Archaeology of the Western Australian Museum expedition a human tooth was found lying on the ground, indicating a nearby burial. Therefore the 2014 project planned to conduct a remote sensing survey of part of Beacon Island, together with the finalisation of the survey of the interior of some of the buildings on the island that were unavailable in 2013. David Lumley and a team from the UWA Geophysics Department, agreed to assist with the remote sensing work and a small team was organised to undertake a short expedition to Beacon. This report details the geophysical work undertaken by the UWA Department of Geophysics, the photographic visulisation undertaken by Paul Bourke from UWA iVEC as part of a project to create a virtual reality of Beacon island and the building survey work undertaken by the team.