Batavia Story

7.30 Report (2013) – Two Archaeologist from the 1960’s and 1970’s return to Beacon Island and discuss the history of the Batavia and the mass mutiny and murder on Beacon Island. They reveal how development of fishing shack has spoilt the archaeological ruins.  The island needs to be cleaned up so archaeologist can examine the ruins on the island and a museum established to show how the island was 400 years ago when over 125 men women and children were murdered.

Shipwreck coast: Batavia -Wreck, Mutiny and Murder

Fully dramatised feature film with a cast of over 70, the Batavia: Wreck, Mutiny and Murder, tells one of the bloodiest shipwreck stories in Australian history. When the vessel ran aground the devastated survivors were faced with horrific savagery, not only from the harsh environment, but a group of brutal mutineers. In a slaughter that lasted almost two months, 125 men, women and children were systematically killed. Filmed on the island where it actually took place, this is a haunting tale of treachery and suffering. Rated M. Duration: 1:41:06 (Produced 1998).

Batavia's Bones

From the Series Shipwreck Detectives  this episode tells the terrible tale of the Dutch ship Batavia, one of the most incredible stories of shipwreck ever recorded and one of the bloodiest chapters in Australia's history.

Australia: Life on the Edge - The Midwest Coast

 Discusses the early exploration of the Australian Coast including the background of Western Australian shipwrecks.

Secret History

Screen Australia. (2009, August 20). Australia's Heritage: National Treasures -  Batavia. ABC.

Australia's Heritage: National Treasures: Batavia 

 Discusses the significance of the Batavia in relation to Australia’s Maritime History. The stone ruins on Western Australia's remote West Wallabi Island - the oldest structures built by Europeans in Australia tell a tale of mutiny and murder. Built as a fort in 1629 by survivors of the shipwrecked Dutch merchant ship Batavia, the National Heritage-listed shipwreck site provides a lasting memorial to the treachery of under-merchant Jeronimus Cornelisz, who had conspired to mutiny and steal the treasure-laden ship before it struck a reef. The mutineers murdered more than 120 shipwreck survivors before most were captured, tried and hanged for their crimes. Batavia was found in 1963 and is now on display at the Western Australian Maritime Museum. The wreck convinced the Dutch East India Company to make accurate charts of the coastline, putting Australia on the world map.