INTRODUCING WRECK SPOTTERS: The New South Wales Shipwreck Spotters Program (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Australian Historic Shipwreck Protection Project.
2011
"Australian wooden shipwrecks represent significant submerged heritage sites with huge potential to inform on historic connections, technological innovation and early colonial behavioural systems. Their archaeological potential is unfortunately often under severe threat from natural and human impacts. The Australian Historic Shipwreck Protection Project has recently been granted a large ARC (Australian Research Council) Linkage grant to investigate the excavation, reburial and in-situ preservation of wrecks and their associated artefacts, which are at risk. This project will focus on Clarence (1850), a historically significant colonial wooden trading vessel, and brings together the disciplines of behavioural archaeology, maritime archaeology, conservation sciences and maritime object conservation. The vessel lies in Port Phillip Bay in Victoria only a few hours from Melbourne by boat and by land. The overarching theoretical focus will be on shipwreck site formation models as well as the potential of wooden historic wrecks and assemblages to elucidate early colonial history and shipbuilding. One of the main aims of the project is to try and develop a protocol for the rapid excavation, detailed recording and subsequent in-situ preservation of significant shipwrecks and their associated artefacts, at risk. This work will foster the development of a consistent national methodology for shipwreck and artefact storage and preservation underwater and assist in developing a strategy for the in-situ preservation of endangered historic shipwrecks. This work will also be critical to the future development of national, and possibly international, policy and technical guidelines for site managers of historic wrecks."
The Australian Historic Shipwreck Preservation Project 2012: First report on the
The Australian Historic Shipwreck Preservation Project (AHSPP) is a collaborative national project funded by an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant, which began in early 2012. With ten state, territory and federal Partner Organisations working with three universities, this is the largest inter-institutional maritime archaeological project run so far in Australia. In accordance with the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage, the project has investigated a threatened and demonstrably deteriorating historic shipwreck Clarence (1841–50) located in the Victorian jurisdiction. The maritime archaeology staff at Heritage Victoria was instrumental in hosting the project. The project aims to address national research priorities while also providing a multi-year study of the long-term efficacy of reburial and stabilisation of assemblages and heavily impacted structural elements. For example it is calculated that c. 30% of the recorded exposed frames and 30 cm of marine sediment has been lost as a result of anchor damage and scouring since surveys were carried out in the mid-1980s (Harvey 1986; 1989). The three-year project aims to systematically test in-situ preservation methodologies and provide a critique of practical protocols for the assessment and conservation of ‘at-risk’ historic shipwrecks. The Clarence project has provided much needed test excavation, recording and in situ reburial and stabilisation as well as training and development opportunities to early career professionals, students and volunteers. The logistics of planning such an exercise (hosting some 65 participants on site in Year 1 alone) are considerable and complex. As in the Queensland jurisdiction, this workplace required ADAS 1 and 2 certification with tethered SCUBA and Surface Supplied Breathing Apparatus (SSBA) for survey, recording, test-excavation, coring, reburial and stabilisation with very large quantities of infill, sand-bags and shade cloth. Scientific (commercial) divers with Supervisor status (James Parkinson and Peter Veth) were also required to oversee safety, air supply, communications and compliance. This paper outlines the planning, preparation and execution of the first stage of the Clarence reburial and stabilisation project primarily conducted in April and May 2012. It explores the test-excavation strategy, history of shipbuilding and preliminary archaeological and conservation results from this primary field season. The project web site at <www.ahspp.org.au> hosts many resources including previous reports, image galleries, current archaeological and conservation outcomes, plans, team profiles and media outputs. It is updated regularly and serves as a research tool.
Australian wooden shipwrecks represent significant submerged heritage sites with huge potential to inform on historic connections, technological innovation and early colonial behavioural systems. Their archaeological potential is unfortunately often under severe threat from natural and human impacts. The Australian Historic Shipwreck Protection Project has recently been granted a large ARC (Australian Research Council) Linkage grant to investigate the excavation, reburial and in-situ preservation of wrecks and their associated artefacts, which are at risk. This project will focus on Clarence (1850), a historically significant colonial wooden trading vessel, and brings together the disciplines of behavioural archaeology, maritime archaeology, conservation sciences and maritime object conservation. The vessel lies in Port Phillip Bay in Victoria only a few hours from Melbourne by boat and by land. The overarching theoretical focus will be on shipwreck site formation models as well as the potential of wooden historic wrecks and assemblages to elucidate early colonial history and shipbuilding.
Historic Shipwrecks Legislation
Maritime Archaeology: Australian Approaches. , 2006
This chapter will consider the background to Australia proclaiming the Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976 (HSA), provide details about the provisions contained within this legislation as well as how they are implemented, and details about what is planned for the future. The Act, which only protects the remains of ships and its associated articles as "historic shipwrecks" and "historic relics", is considered to be at a crucial stage. It is nearly thirty years since the legislation was enacted and recent developments at the international and Australian Federal level in the field of cultural heritage management (submerged and terrestrial sites) make it necessary for the Historic Shipwrecks Act to be reviewed. These developments provide for a more holistic approach to the protection and management of all submerged cultural heritage sites and values as well as within a maritime historical context. This raises a number of issues, amongst which include the suitability of other Federal legislation to help facilitate this work, as well as the need for coordination of the various jurisdictions and their legislation to implement these tasks. Legislation on its own will not protect cultural heritage sites and the Federal and State governments involved in administering the Historic Shipwrecks Act have been very active in implementing an historic shipwrecks/maritime heritage program throughout Australia. This chapter will therefore provide some background about this program and how it has operated to fulfill its objectives. It will also consider how it may be possible to develop the program to encompass submerged cultural heritage sites and terrestrial maritime cultural heritage sites and values.
The Australian historic shipwreck preservation project: An interim progress report
Journal of the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology, The, 2014
In early 2012 the Australian Historic Shipwreck Preservation Project (AHSPP) was awarded a large Australian Research Council Linkage Grant, enabling ten Partner Organisations to join with three Australian Universities in one of the largest multiorganisational maritime archaeology projects to be undertaken in Australia. The project involved a month-long excavation on the historic shipwreck Clarence (1850) in April/May 2012 and a complex reburial program in November 2012. Further in-situ preservation work is also being conducted on James Matthews (1841) in Western Australia to test experimental reburial approaches in an alternative marine environment. The work on Clarence is now in its research, analysis, monitoring and reporting phase, with artefact, sediment and chemical analysis being undertaken. This paper presents an interim report on AHSPP since its launch at the 1 st Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage in Manila in 2011. It provides analysis of some of the more significant artefacts and features revealed during excavation and examine approaches to long-term in-situ preservation and management of shipwreck sites.
Proceedings of the 1999 …, 1997
Shipwrecks and other submerged cultural resources are receiving increasing popular and legal attention. Debates rage as to whether they are public or private property; which of the many values and uses should take priority; how wreck sites should be managed; and who should make the decisions. In the meantime, shipwrecks (even deep ones now accessible through use of improved technology) are being damaged or lost by a combination of natural and human causes, including storms and zebra mussel infestations, anchor and fishing net damage, legal salvage and illegal collecting of artifacts, and inadvertent damage by uncontrolled or inappropriate recreational diver behavior. Salvagers, historians, archaeologists, dive businesses, recreational divers, and tourists all have different opinions about how these resources should be used and managed. .. and whether they should be found at all. Governments have limited human and financial resources to research and manage them. This study, involving input from varied stakeholders, develops recommendations for managing Michigan shipwrecks using a variety of partnership strategies that recognize multiple values.