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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.

EXPLORE
#WindsorBoats - continuing with our look (or sniff) at the timber annotation phase:

Getting up close with the timbers during annotation, gives us a chance to make many other observations which may (or may not) be useful to the conservation process. This includes notes on how a timber looks and feels…and…smells 😅🤷‍♀️

With our colleague @kieranhosty 

Video: @rae.malliaros /SWF, Copyright Transport for NSW

#3dmodel #3Dimaging #maritimearchaeology #archaeology #conservation #heritagejobs #itsmellsbad
Montevideo Maru has been found.
 
The sinking of the Montevideo Maru was Australia’s largest maritime loss in World War II, with 979 Australian lives, and 1,080 total lives lost from 14 nations.
 
After exhaustive search efforts between Silentworld Foundation, Fugro, and the Department of Defence, in the South China Sea, we are able to announce that we have found the final resting place for these 1,080 souls. 
 
Montevideo Maru was transporting Allied prisoners of war captured after the fall of Rabaul in Papua New Guinea. The ship was not marked as carrying prisoners of war, and on the 1st July 1942 the United States Submarine Sturgeon, after stalking Montevideo Maru through the night, fired four torpedoes, which found their target, sinking the vessel in less than 10 minutes.
 
After 12 days at sea, the team found a possible sighting of the wreck using an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) with in-built sonar.
 
A team of experts, including maritime archaeologists, conservators, operations and research specialists and ex-naval officers, worked for days to verify the wreck. The search, and discovery, is the culmination of five years of planning from Silentworld Foundation, and 20 years of dedication from the Montevideo Maru Society.
 
The wreck lies in over 4000m of water, deeper than RMS Titanic, and there will be no efforts to remove artefacts or human remains. It will lie undisturbed, and the survey and recording of the site will be non-invasive out of respect for the families of those who were lost. 
 
#montevideomaru #maritimearchaeology #lestweforget #fugro #WorldWarII #WWII #shipwreck
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
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