Sunday Seminars – Finding the oldest shipwrecks in the Swan River
Finding the oldest shipwrecks in the Swan River with Patrick Morrison, Assistant Curator, Department of Maritime Heritage, WA Museum.
There are more than a thousand shipwrecks in WA, but only 300 have been located by archaeologists. Learn about several recent discoveries made using open multibeam datasets, databases of historic vessels, and underwater photogrammetry techniques. This includes the oldest known wreck in the Swan River and several other wrecks spanning more than 100 years of Australia’s history. Hear about the exciting work planned in the coming year – with innovative techniques that will allow us to reveal the buried extent of the wrecks without disturbing them.
Patrick Morrison has discovered several wrecks, including the oldest shipwreck in the Swan River and the Dutch WWII submarine K XI, co-authored the first discovery of submerged Aboriginal artefacts underwater on the Australian continental shelf, and teaches Maritime and Historical Archaeology at UWA. He has recently recorded two significant shipwrecks with the WA Museum (Trial 1622 and Zeewijk 1727).