Protecting the Protector: An Initiative to Document, Assess, Interpret, Exhibit and Preserve an Early Australian Warship

Between 27 September and 3 October, a team of researchers travelled to Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef and conducted a comprehensive archaeological survey of the former Australian warship Protector. The project is a collaborative effort between the South Australian Maritime Museum (SAMM) and the University of Adelaide’s Australian Centre for Visual Technologies (ACVT), and is supported by a 2013 Australian Research Council Linkage Grant awarded to ACVT and by funding from the Commonwealth government’s Your Community Heritage Program and the Silentworld Foundation. The team comprised James Hunter, Emily Jateff and Kevin Jones (SAMM), Anton van den Hengel (ACVT), Ian MacLeod (Western Australian Museum), Ed Slaughter and Nick Herath (Lester Franks Survey and Geographic).