The booklet, Wrecks and Relics: Looking After Maritime Archaeological Finds in the Robe Region was generated as part of the museum’s ongoing Koning Willem de Tweede Shipwreck Project, and addresses Dutch connections to Robe’s maritime history, conservation and stabilisation of maritime cultural heritage, and relevant State and Commonwealth heritage legislation. While the booklet’s focus is on maritime archaeological finds in Robe and its surrounds, the conservation methods outlined within have wider applicability to shipwreck and other underwater artefacts in the waters of South Australia and beyond.
Koning Willem de Tweede was an 800-ton Dutch barque that wrecked near Robe, South Australia on 30 June 1857 with the loss of 16 lives. Only days prior to the loss, more than 400 Chinese miners destined for the gold fields at Bendigo and Ballarat in Victoria were discharged from the vessel.
The primary purpose of the project is to search for, locate, and archaeologically survey the remains of this historic shipwreck. In addition, the project team—in consultation with the local community—would like to document any privately- or publicly-held material recovered from the wreck site and provide conservation advice to assist in its future preservation. The booklet has been produced as an outcome of the latter initiative.
Maritime archaeological conservator Heather Berry (Silentworld Foundation) demonstrates how to clean a fragment of copper-alloy hull sheathing to members of the Robe community during a conservation workshop in April 2024. Image: James Hunter
A wooden deadeye in the collections of the National Trust of South Australia (Robe Branch). The deadeye was recovered from an unidentified shipwreck and options for its stabilisation and care are addressed in the conservation booklet. Image: James Hunter
An unidentified iron artefact believed to be a gudgeon or pintle strap (rudder hardware) from the shipwreck site of the Duilius, which wrecked at Robe in 1853. Options for the stabilisation and care of iron artefacts of this kind are addressed in the conservation booklet. Image: James Hunter
Components of a broken copper-alloy gudgeon in the collections of the National Trust of South Australia (Robe Branch). The gudgeon formed part of the hinge upon which a ship’s rudder turned and was recovered from an unidentified shipwreck site. Options for the stabilisation and care of copper-alloy artefacts of this kind are addressed in the conservation booklet. Image: James Hunter
The Koning Willem de Tweede Shipwreck Project has been assisted by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Embassy of Kingdom of the Netherlands, Australia and was executed in collaboration with the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands.
Project Partners
.jpg?h=720&la=en&w=1280&hash=C8947E3C942D18E3CB99537431A81D7526E1DA61)