Last week we celebrated the 224th anniversary of
the wrecking of the flagship of the First Fleet, H.M.S. Sirius on the reef at Slaughter Bay. Her role as the flagship places her
as Australia’s most important shipwreck and her artefacts are the most
significant array of First Fleet cultural heritage held anywhere in Australia. She
was the lead ship of those coming to start the new colony, and is therefore
positioned right at the very beginnings of what was to become our Nation. The
story of the first two years of settlement at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island
are together the story of the start of Australia and the wrecking of the
Sirius here was a defining event for both colonies. What is astounding is that
as a whole we do not know or are not taught at school, about Norfolk
Island’s role and the final resting place for the Sirius. I
imagine every American child knows what happened to the Mayflower?
The site of the shipwrecking
and eventual spread of her artefacts received National and Commonwealth
Heritage Listing in 2011. Given her importance it is also not surprising that
there is Legislation that protects the wrecksite of the Sirius, along with
other Historic Shipwrecks around Australia. This is the Commonwealth
Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976. This legislation covers the ownership and sale of
historic shipwreck artefacts and also shipwreck sites. The aims of the Act are
to ensure that historic shipwrecks are protected for their heritage values and
maintained for recreational, scientific and educational purposes. The Act also
seeks to control any actions which could result in damage, interference,
removal or destruction of an historic shipwreck site or relic. It does not
prevent private ownership of relics, or their sale or disposal, but it does
regulate their transfer.
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| NIMAA members snorkelling on the last Sirius anchor still on the sea floor |
It is also
important for locals to know that while they may have Sirius or other historic
shipwreck artefacts currently in their possession, the Act does not allow
further removal of objects from wreck sites or disturbance of sites. Relics can
only be removed if a permit has been issued (which is what occurred for the
official expeditions to recover the Sirius
objects). A permit can be issued by the Museum Director as the appointed
Officer under the Act. For the Sirius site, there are no restrictions on the
use of the site by divers, surfers or swimmers. When the Norfolk Island
Maritime Archaeology Association (NIMAA) members were recently diving with visiting
maritime archaeologists they were lucky enough to have conditions that do not
occur very often over the site, being calm and with little current or swell,
and could snorkel over the remaining anchor still visible on the sea floor (see
photo).
It is important to
know though that no-one may remove relics or disturb the physical fabric of the
site. The reason for this of course is that we want the Sirius wreck site and artefacts
to be around for future generations to see and learn from. Private owners have
an obligation to ensure the artefacts they hold are looked after properly.
Working with the Sirius collection on a daily basis we know the conservation work
that is required to ensure that these objects do not deteriorate. We had a
great example of this presented to us recently when a copper bolt was taken
from the site without the diver, Jamie Ryves, being aware that this was
illegal. Jamie is an experienced and very responsible diver – but was unaware
of the HSP Legislation. The bolt he recovered is likely to be a keel bolt and
is an exciting find. However after being under the water for 224 years, it
immediately began to corrode once taken out of the water and quickly coloured
bright green – a lovely colour in any other circumstances, but one that gave us
a clear alarm bell that active corrosion was underway.
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| Janelle with the keel bolt and its 'tank' |
Once we alerted Jamie to the importance of the bolt and that
it shouldn’t have been taken off the site without a permit, he immediately
donated it to the museum. Janelle Blucher quickly worked on its conservation by
rinsing it in fresh water then removing the attached
accretions. This provided an even surface for treatment by
immersion in a citric acid / thiourea solution. The citric acid
assists in the removal of the remaining salt laden calcareous concretions and
the thiourea prevents the citric acid from attacking the underlying good
metal. The bolt is over 900mm long so a vessel long enough for
the immersion in the solution was created (thanks Raewyn and Christian
Bailey-Agencies!). The bolt spent a few weeks in solution and was
recently removed and will soon be ready for its next phase of treatment
including immersing in sodium sesquicarbonate solution to remove salt
contaminations in the metal. This process should remove all the salt and it
will then be ready for a protective coating and display.
We sincerely thank
Jamie for not only donating the bolt but approving of us publically relaying
his actions as a way of publicising that the purpose of the Act, is protection
of the artefacts. We hope that everyone will understand that the issue at stake
here is not about denying the right to collect objects or ownership per se – it
is about ensuring that our children’s children will be able to inherit their
rightful heritage by us being good custodians during our lifetime. We are very
happy to offer conservation advice and assistance with any artefacts anyone has
that they may be worried about. Please call down and see us at the Museum or
call on 23788.
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