Story: WA Shipwreck Museum
Episode: 13
Presenter: Trevor Cochrane
Air Date: 15th August 2021

Trev dives into the fascinating history of Australia’s oldest shipwrecks at the WA Shipwrecks Museum, which is internationally recognised for its contributions to maritime archaeology and shipwreck conservation.

• The WA Shipwreck Museum is located on Whadjuk Nyoongar land, the buildings themselves are historic.
• The Museum is housed inside Fremantle’s Commissariat buildings – these were among the first buildings in WA to be built using convict labour.
• The Entrance Gallery contains artefacts from Australia’s first known shipwreck, the Trial, as well as the Rapid, James Matthews and stories from the shipwrecks off the Ningaloo Coast.
• With the creation of the Commonwealth Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976, the Western Australian Museum became the delegated authority for the management of Commonwealth historic shipwrecks and relics in WA.
• The Batavia Gallery is the centrepiece of the Shipwrecks Museum. The gallery houses the reconstructed remains of the VOC ship Batavia, excavated by archaeologists in the 1970s.
• After an extensive treatment and restoration process, the remains of the Batavia ship’s stern were rebuilt in this gallery.
• The gallery also features a skeleton of one of the people murdered on the Abrolhos Islands, a replica of the impressive portico façade – carried as cargo to be used as a grand entrance to the city of Batavia – a reconstruction of the captain’s cabin, and numerous other artefacts recovered from the wreck.
• The Museum is open daily from 9:30am – 17:00pm.