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The Silentworld Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation with a focus on supporting and promoting Australasian maritime archaeology, history, culture and heritage.

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Stream the audio waves


Season one out now

Dive in and explore the history of humans at sea. From sea monsters to ghost ships and curious superstitions in between, join Renee and Kate for a spooky season on the high seas of Australia and the Pacific.

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Discover the collection


The collection comprises over 2,000 original objects including maps, paintings, manuscripts, shipwreck material, ephemera, coins and medallions, militaria and historical artefacts.

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This looks suspiciously linear 🤔 (little blue pins along the boat track lines on the left side of the screen!)

The search for Koning Willem II: 

The weather and sea state in Robe during our assigned fieldwork days in November may have prevented us from diving BUT the magnetometer survey, along with the ceramic sherds located on the beach, paint an enticing picture. We are getting close to locating a shipwreck - we can feel it in our waters! 

This leaves us with one task - we must return and dive! 

The Koning Willem II Shipwreck Project has been assisted by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Australia, and the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. 

📸: @rae.malliaros / Silentworld Foundation

#KoningWillemII #shipwreck #Robe #GuichenBay #maritimearchaeology #needtodive
The search for Koning Willem II 

Day 6 of fieldwork: the high winds continue to impede fieldwork – but work must continue! 

SWF conservator Heather takes the opportunity to do some first aid conservation on one of the objects raised from the wreck site of South Australian (Victor Harbor, SA) last week. 

🎥: @rae.malliaros / Silentworld Foundation 

#conservation #heritageconservation #SouthAustralian #shipwreck #fieldworkface #artefact #ASMR
The search for Koning Willem II

Wind and sea state have kept the team off the water so we have armed ourselves with metal detectors – a perfect day to complete the beach survey. 

Shipwrecks in high energy areas, such as those close to beaches, often end up having a spread of artefacts radiating from them in the direction of the prevailing seas.

Get set, ready, survey!

The Koning Willem II Shipwreck Project has been assisted by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Australia, and the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands.

📸 @kieranhosty 

#metaldetecting #atthebeach #KoningWillemII #shipwreck #Robe #GuichenBay #maritimearchaeology
#WindsorBoats ⛵⛵⛵: The Windsor Boat timbers were found and raised out of the Hawkesbury River and were stored safely in fresh water on site. As such, there wasn’t a lot of cleaning to be done when they arrived at their new home. This made conservator Heather Berry very happy 🥰🚿

📸: Kieran Hosty/ANMM

#ArtefactCleaning #SpringClean #SilentworldConservationProjects
The search for Koning Willem II begins! 
The Koning Willem II Shipwreck Project has been assisted by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Australia, and the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands.
📷 Heather Berry 
#layoftheland #KoningWillemII #shipwreck #Robe #GuichenBay #maritimearchaeology
Preparing for the magnetometer survey of Guichen Bay, searching for Koning Willem II. 

The Koning Willem II Shipwreck Project has been assisted by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Australia, and the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands.

📷 Heather Berry

#KoningWillemII #shipwreck #Robe #GuichenBay #maritimearchaeology #fieldwork #fieldworkface
Getting the lay of the land (and sea).
Looking across Guichen Bay towards the location of our upcoming survey on the search for the wreck site of Dutch vessel, Koning Willem II. Dr James Hunter points out some details. 
The Koning Willem II Shipwreck Project has been assisted by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Australia, and the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands.
#layoftheland #KoningWillemII #shipwreck #Robe #GuichenBay #maritimearchaeology
Rolling into town!

#Robe #KoningWillemII #shipwreck
Hitting the decks for some photogrammetry! 

Dr James Hunter (National Maritime Museum ) gets down and a little bit dirty with one half of a stone artefact retrieved from the wreck site of barque South Australian, Victor Harbor. Recording artefacts immediately after they are raised and before conservation is important to capture information of their “as found” state. 

A select number of artefacts which are diagnostic or archaeologically significant and are at risk of damage or loss have been retrieved from the site under permit and placed into conservation treatment with the Silentworld Foundation. 

The team has finished work on the site for now and heading down the coast on a different mission! 

#photogrammetry #3Drecording #3Dmodel #SouthAustralian #shipwreck #fieldworkface #artefact
Are you into boring?

Conservator Heather is extracting core samples with a manual increment borer to determine density of timbers on the shipwreck of South Australian. This will give us information about how degraded the timbers are, and how they've spent their time underwater. 

📸 @rae.malliaros/Silentworld Foundation

#heatherboring #boring #girllaughingatsalad #SouthAustralian #shipwreck #fieldworkface #conservation #maritimeconservation #heritageconservation
⛵#FunFieldDiaries – Back on Barque South Australian (June 2022)

Why is this reminiscent of two very proud kindergarteners? 🤔😅So sweet!

✏️Conservators Heather Berry (Silentworld Foundation) and Nick Flood (Australian National Maritime Museum) traced the site plan onto waterproof paper in preparation for one of their dives.

#kindy #fieldworkface #conservator
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