The Australian Historic Shipwreck Protection Project

"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."