Welcome aboard
The Silentworld Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation with a focus on supporting and promoting Australasian maritime archaeology, history, culture and heritage.
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.
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.
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
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
#RemembranceDay
'They have no grave, but the cruel sea, no flowers lay at their head, a rusting hulk is their tombstone, afast on the ocean bed...we will remember them, lest we forget.'
Today, we pause to remember the men of AE1, Australia's first submarine.
HMAS AE1 and its crew were lost on patrol on 14 September 1914 off the Duke of York Islands, in Papua New Guinea. For over a century, they waited. For over a century, their families kept their memory alive and never lost hope that one day, they would be found. The wreckage of AE1 was found on the evening of 20 December 2017.
In 2017 the Silentworld Foundation collaborated with the @royal.australian.navy, to co-fund an expedition to once again search for AE1 – in collaboration with @sea.museum, @findae1 and @submarineinstituteaus. The team partnered with @fugro, international commercial surveying services company and aboard MV Fugro Equator set out to find the men of AE1.
#LestWeForget #Archaeology #AE1 #Navy #Wreck #Mystery #WorldWar1 #WWI #Submarine
#WindsorBoats ⛵⛵⛵: Photography followed by a brief condition assessment by Heather marks the beginning of the timber conservation record!
📸: Kieran Hosty/ANMM
#ReadyForMyCloseUp #ConservationSelfie #Conservation #Archaeology #DayInTheOffice #SilentworldConservationProjects
⚓Anchors aweigh, it's the weekend!
📸@seajewlz
The sea mound complex known as Kenn Reefs is in the Coral Sea and is in the middle of a historical shipping route known as the Outer Route. At least eight mid-19th century vessels were reported to have come to grief upon the reefs. Accounts tell of incredible survival, rescue and escape.
A 2017 survey of the reefs, another joint expedition between the Silentworld Foundation and the Australian National Maritime Museum, revealed an additional four sites. Further post-fieldwork research helped identify all known vessels to their respective wreck sites.
#ShipwreckStories #ReefAdventures #ArchaeologyLife #Anchor
🛶🛶🛶#WindsorBoats throwback to late 2020: Well, it was near enough to 🎄Christmas🎄time that unwrapping the timbers felt extra special.
🙏A huge thank you to our volunteer, Blanche Menadier and our @sea.museum colleague @kieranhosty for lending a hand & snapping these pics!
#Conservation #WrapAndPack #Archaeology #DayInTheOffice #SilentworldConservationProjects
#FunFieldDiaries – Back on Barque South Australian (June 2022)
Conservator gremlin cave VS maritime archaeologist light-bathed parlour.
A wet and windy day kept the team shore-bound.
#conservation #maritimearchaeology #wetandwindy #gremlins #gentlefolk #southaustralian
⛵#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
🍴#FunFieldDiaries – Back on Barque South Australian (June 2022)
🍣Feeding the troops is always a wise move – keeps them happy. Here's Dr James Hunter (Australian National Maritime Museum) jazzing up dinner (BBQ salmon - his speciality).
We don’t always cook for dinner on fieldwork – a long day out diving on site does tire us out but sometimes it is nice to break out the ol’ cooking/grilling skills.
#grillmaster #clickthetongs #fielworkface #southaustralian
😃#FunFieldDiaries – Back on Barque South Australian (June 2022)
💃🕺When you are so in sync with your drysuit that the two of you have a dance routine. Heather Berry demonstrates.
UK-made @othreeltd dry suits gave us that added level of comfort in the cold June waters of South Australia.
“Field Diaries” posts shift the view of a project from the polished images to the ones which are never seen. They give a much more intimate and goofy view of the fieldwork life because a lot of the work we do is about the process as much as it is about the end product. But the most important thing in the field, is to keep a sense of humour. So, enjoy!
#dancingconservator #fielworkface #othree #drysuit
😱 Have you ever, ever felt like this?
👻 Gather round, we've got some ghostly tales of haunted lighthouses and ghost ships to share on All Hallow's Eve...
🎧 Grab your headphones and press play on www.silentworldfoundation.org.au/podcast, at the link in our bio, or search 'Into the Silentworld' on Spotify, Apple Music, IHeartRadio or Youtube.
#GhostShip #GhostStory #HauntedLighthouse #Halloween #IntoTheSilentworld
🥵When it’s been a long day of moving archaeological boat timbers in the summer heat...
#WindsorBoats #Conservation #WrapAndPack #Archaeology #DayInTheOffice #ArchaeologyLife #SilentworldConservationProjects
⛵⛵⛵#WindsorBoats: Late 2020, when the timbers arrived at the conservation facility safe & sound, the same day we packed them at the Transport for NSW site at Windsor.
It seemed like it had only been a few hours ago we loaded everything on the truck🤔😂… Oh well, time to unload.
For more info on the story of the Windsor Boats, have a little read here ➡️➡️➡️ https://silentworldfoundation.org.au/projects/windsor-boats/
#Conservation #WrapAndPack #Archaeology #DayInTheOffice #DeliveryDate #SilentworldConservationProjects
⛵⛵⛵📸#WindsorBoats snaps!
Just before Christmas 2020, we got the team together and went out to the Transport for NSW (formerly RMS) site at Windsor to pick up the boat timbers excavated in 2018/2019 and carry them to their new home at the Sydney Metro conservation facility.
🙏A big thanks to our colleagues for their help on that important day:
• The Australian National Maritime Museum - who provided the transport and a helping hand
• Jane Mitchell and Ben Wharton (@mcraftw) of Cosmos Archaeology - who were part of the team that undertook the underwater excavation and field recording of the timbers (so glad to see them on site and that they were able to see the timbers off).
A huge thank you to the ground team there from the Georgiou Group for their assistance on the day and for keeping an eye on these little boats since they were found.
For more info on the story of the Windsor Boats, have a little read here ➡️➡️➡️ https://silentworldfoundation.org.au/projects/windsor-boats/
#Conservation #WrapAndPack #Archaeology #DayInTheOffice #SilentworldConservationProjects
⚠️Caution Conservation in Progress ⚠️
Here are some shots of Heather Berry treating a piece of iron kentledge from the Endeavour, an object from our collection and museum. The piece recently developed spots of active corrosion on the surface of the iron, and required a re-coating of microcrystalline wax.
Using cotton swabs, hand tools, and white spirits, the previous layer of microcrystalline wax was removed from the surface. Heather then applied a solution of tannic acid to the affected areas, to passivate the active corrosion and convert it to ferric tannate.
Any losses and unstable parts of the kentledge were subsequently readhered.
Finally, new coat of microcrystalline wax was applied to the whole surface of the object, to prevent future corrosion.
#Conservation #ObjectTreatment #OnTheBench
