Conservation - Australian National Maritime Museum

Screenshot from the PS 'Herald' VR experience

The PS 'Herald' VR Experience: Seven students, one virtual dive

14 Sep 2020

How do you share a historic shipwreck with those who aren't divers or maritime archaeologists? The museum's Curator of RAN Maritime Archaeology, Dr James Hunter, teamed up with Professor Holger Deuter and seven masters students from Germany's University of Applied Sciences, Kaiserslautern to allow anyone to participate in a 'virtual dive' on PS Herald, a wrecked sidewheel steamship that lies off North Head at the entrance to Sydney Harbour.

A small selection of the museum's Dunbar collection, purchased with the assistance of the Andrew Thyne Reid Charitable Trust

The melancholy wreck of the 'Dunbar'

20 Aug 2020

On this day in 1857, the Dunbar wrecked near the entrance to Sydney Harbour. With the loss of 121 passengers and crew, the wreck is one of Australia's worst maritime disasters in peacetime. Museum maritime archaeologist Kieran Hosty recounts the fateful night and aftermath of this tragic event.

Kieran Hosty at Boot Reef in December 2018. Image Julia Sumerling/Silentworld Foundation

Ask an Archaeologist Day

15 Jul 2020

Today is Ask an Archaeologist Day so we had the museum's maritime archeologists, James Hunter and Kieran Hosty answer your burning questions.

James Hunter (left) and Kieran Hosty use baseline-offset mapping to record the hull structure in South Australian's bow

Bound for 'South Australian': South Australia's oldest known shipwreck found

22 May 2020

Nearly 200 years after its loss, the barque South Australian was relocated by a research consortium that included the museum's maritime archaeology team. Dr James Hunter and Kieran Hosty share the story of South Australia's oldest recorded European shipwreck, and the effort to find, document and preserve it.

Digitising our history: The tragedy of SS Federal

21 Dec 2019

The museum’s Registration team recently digitised 127 documents related to the working life and horrific wrecking of SS Federal. Curator of Ocean Science and Technology Emily Jateff provides an overview of the shipwreck and its discovery.

Photograph showing archaeological remains underwater

Rhode Island revisited: The search for Cook's Endeavour continues

13 Dec 2019

Investigations continue into the 18th-century shipwreck that lies on the muddy sea-floor of Newport Harbor, Rhode Island. Is it HMB Endeavour? Dr James Hunter, Kieran Hosty and Irini Malliaros provide key insights from the latest fieldwork.

James Hunter conducts a photogrammetric survey of Herald’s starboard boiler. A lighting array was used to illuminate the wreck site and resulted in imagery that was a vast improvement over photographs collected by the team in 2019. Image Irini Malliaros

PS Herald Revisited

01 Dec 2019

Photogrammetric 3D recording documents one of Australia’s oldest paddle steamers

4 surprising shipwrecks of Sydney Harbour

20 Sep 2019

Sydney Harbour is known for its beautiful scenery, ferries, sailing... but did you know that there are several shipwreck sites in the harbour too? Here are the stories of just four that might surprise you!