Wrecked ! Tragedy and the Southern Seas

by Shirani Aththa - ANMM on 17 Oct 2007 The drama and tragedy of Australia's most devastating shipwrecks will be the focus of a new exhibition opening at the National Maritime Museum later this month (26 Oct).

Wrecked! Tragedy and the Southern Seas features more than 100 artefacts, some never before seen, salvaged from 19th- and early 20th-century wrecks around the Australian coast to show the devastating impacts they had in a time when shipping was central to daily life.

Developed by the South Australian Maritime Museum, the exhibition offers a rare insight into why fear of shipwreck loomed so large and the devastation these wrecks caused.

Objects from Dutch shipwrecks on the west coast show a different, much older and mysterious side to European beginnings in Australia. These include an elephant tusk from Vergulde Draeck, wrecked in 1656, and bottles, a buckle and key belonging to passengers on the Zeewijk wreck of 1727.

The early colonies depended on the sea for trade, industry, culture, migration, travel and survival. Wrecked! examines how shipwrecks could lose an entire community's supplies or destroy valuable export goods. Interestingly, the exhibition also notes that 19th century migrants to Australia had a less than 0.5% chance of being killed in a shipwreck.

One of Australia's most significant maritime treasures, the figurehead from the Irish Star clipper Star of Greece (1888), is central to a display about how this wreck, infamous for the inadequacy of the lifesaving equipment and tardy rescue effort, came to define the identity of Port Willunga in South Australia.

There are also reminders of the terrible death toll from some of the worst disasters - Dunbar off Sydney Heads in 1857 with the loss of 120 lives and the Admella catastrophe in 1859, when 89 of 113 onboard died after the steamship struck a reef on its way from Adelaide to Melbourne. Pounding seas thwarted rescuers for a week as survivors slowly died, able to watch one rescue attempt after another fail. Admella displays include medals given to rescuers for bravery as well as china and fittings from the ship.

Personal items, such as a tureen and carved stones thought to be destined to a Freemason's Hall from the wreck of the Nashwauk (1855), give visitors a glimpse into life in the early colonies and what treasured objects migrants would bring with them.

'We felt it was important to present the drama, tragedy, people and extraordinary events surrounding some of these shipwrecks and at the same time illustrate their impact on the colonies and the country itself,' said exhibition curator Bill Seager of the South Australian Maritime Museum.

The exhibition is supported by Flinders Ports and Pacific Marine Batteries and developed and toured with the support of Visions of Australia.
Wrecked! Tragedy and the Southern Seas opens at the National Maritime Museum, admission free, on 26 October 2007 and will remain on view until 28 January 2008.