Western Australian Shipwrecks
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Long before Captain Cook explored the east coast of Australia in 1770, hundreds of European mariners had sighted, mapped, landed on or been wrecked on WA’s coastline. KERRYCOYLE takes us on a voyage to meet some of them.
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The Maritime Archaeology Databases have been developed as a public facility where visitors can search our collection databases for shipwreck information, shipwreck artefacts, numismatic (coin) materials, as well as the ANCODS (Agreement between Australia and the Netherlands Concerning Old Dutch Shipwrecks) collection.
Zuytdorp
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The Dutch East India Company's Zuytdorp came to a shuddering halt on Western Australia's remote Murchison coast between Kalbarri and Shark Bay, possibly sometime in June 1712. We can't say for sure, because the precise circumstances of the wreck event remain a mystery. Unlike the four other Dutch and English East India Company vessels known to have sailed too far east and come to grief on the WA coast, no survivors from the Zuytdorp reached Batavia to tell the tale.
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The shipwreck databases of Western Australia contains a list of articles on the Zuytdorp.
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This is the only ship that needs permission to dive on in WA. Protected zone 500 m around wreck. On 1 August 1711 Zuytdorp (meaning ‘South village’) was dispatched from the Netherlands to the trading port of Batavia. It never arrived at its destination. No search was undertaken, since there was no idea where the ship was lost. The crew were never heard from again.
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On 1 August 1711, Zuytdorp (also Zuiddorp, meaning ‘South village’) departed from the Netherlands to the trading port of Batavia. It never arrived. No search was undertaken as there was no clue to where the ship was lost and the crew was never heard from again.
Wreck of Zuytdorp
West Australian Museum (2015, March 23). Zuytdorp Wreck.[Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F34rDth146E
Presented by Dr Michael "Mack" McCarthy, Curator, Maritime Archeology as part of the In the Wild West Lecture Series in 2012.
Zuytdorp Country
Vanderveldt, T. (2009, July 4). Zuytdorp Country.[Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMz7PBrAas4
The wreck site and land beyond of the VOC ship "Zuytdorp" in 1712, It is believed that the survivors inter-married with the Nanda Tribe.
Vergulde Draek
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Built in 1653 by the Amsterdam Chamber of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), the Vergulde Draeck ('Gilt Dragon') was a 260-tonne, 42-metre 'jacht'. On its second voyage to the VOC's spice-trading headquarters at Batavia (Jakarta), it sailed too far east and struck a reef on 28 April 1656, just 5.6 kilometres off the coast of the mysterious Great South Land.
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The shipwreck databases of Western Australia contains a list of articles on the Vergulde Draeck.
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The historical background to the VERGULDE DRAECK has been limited to the history of the ship itself, the events leading up to her loss in 1656, and attempts in the following years to save her people and salvage her goods.
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Dutch references to the Batavia, Vergulde Draak and other vessels.
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The jacht Vergulde Draeck carried a cargo of trade goods worth 106,400 florins, together with eight chests of silver coin worth 78,600 florins, and the crew consisted of 193 men.
Following Brouwer’s route, the vessel made use of trade winds before making a northward turn to the East Indies. The vessel was lost on 28 April 1656 on a reef off the coast off Western Australia, north of Yanchep, near Ledge Point.
Vergulde Draeck (Gilt Dragon)
(6, March 8). Gilt Dragon research group.[Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cvd07icLt8
In 1656, the Dutch VOC maritime vessel, the Vergulde Draeck or Gilt Dragon, was wrecked on the coast of Western Australia.
Of the 193 people on board, 118 are known to have perished. Of the survivors, 75 people made it alive to the shoreline.
Secret History
Vanderveldt, T (2010, December, 3). Secret History [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gJj0O1dMlk
Australian history that has not been acknowledged in the past.