The Historic
Shipwreck Act 1976 requires all owners of shipwreck material older than 75
years to register their objects.
Registration simply records the details of your shipwreck material and
in no way interferes with your ownership. On Norfolk Island the museum is the agency to
contact to register shipwreck material.
The purpose of the Historic
Shipwrecks Act 1976 is to protect maritime objects. It is also to ensure
that historic shipwrecks are protected for their heritage values and maintained
for recreational, scientific and educational purposes. It 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 and disallows further removal of objects from wreck sites or
disturbance of sites.
The reasons to register your material are not only that
it is a legal requirement, but that without registration you cannot sell or
transfer your material.
The registration form is a relatively simple one page
form that includes your contact details, a description of your relics and
information such as: (if known) where the relic was found, what historic
shipwreck it is associated with, where
it is stored and its condition. Aside from getting a copy at the museum, you
can download it from http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/historic-shipwrecks/possessing-exporting-historic-shipwreck-relics see the link
under Notification to find ‘Notification custody of shipwreck relic’.
Registering artefacts isn’t a new concept on Norfolk
Island. Many owners of HMS Sirius
objects were brought forward for photographing, identification and recording
during the 1985 Sirius
Expeditions. They were then included in
the expedition reports, enabling us to revisit them in recent years to take
additional photographs, reconfirm the provenance or associated stories,
conserve them and return them back to their owners.
We also urge you to record whatever information you have
about your objects. Norfolk Island is surrounded by maritime events and many
relics have been recovered from our seas and shores over the years including
from our convict and whaling heritage to name just two. The value we place on an object often relates
to its connections to a story or a place.
An object by itself may tell you where or when it was made, but
knowledge of its story or place is much more meaningful.
Our photo shows a
fine example of a shipwreck relic: The bell of the Mary Hamilton in repose at
the Norfolk Island Central School, no longer directing the students throughout
their day with its ring. The Mary Hamilton was on a twelve month whaling cruise
when she called at Norfolk Island on 19 April 1873 to load wood and water. Her
master went ashore but as she was being brought around from Cascade to Kingston
by the Mate she struck a rock off Nepean Island; bilged and eventually sunk.
Janelle Blucher
