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the THE ANCODS ANCODS colloquium CO LL O QUIUM edited by: jeremy green myra stanbury femme gaastra special publication no.3 australian national centre of excellence for maritime archaeology THE ANCODS COLLOQUIUM THE ANCODS COLLOQUIUM Papers presented at the Australia–Netherlands Colloquium on maritime archaeology and maritime history Edited by Jeremy Green Myra Stanbury Femme Gaastra Special publication no. 3 Australian National Centre of Excellence for Maritime Archaeology First published in 1998 by the Australian National Centre of Excellence for Maritime Archaeology Western Australian Maritime Museum Cliff Street Fremantle Western Australia 6160 Editorial Board: Jeremy Green, Myra Stanbury and Femme Gaastra iv This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism, or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Enquiries should be made to the publisher. © The Australian National Centre of Excellence for Maritime Archaeology National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication ANCODS Colloquium (1997 : Fremantle, W.A.). The ANCODS Colloquium : papers presented at the Australian–Netherlands colloquium on maritime archaeology and maritime history. Bibliography. ISBN 1 876465 00 X. 1. Underwater archaeology – Congresses. 2. Shipwrecks – Congresses. 3. Navigation – History – Congresses. I. Green, Jeremy N., 1942– . II. Stanbury, Myra. III. Gaastra, F. S. (Femme S.). IV. Australian National Centre of Excellence for Maritime Archaeology. V. Title. (Series : Special publication (Australian National Centre of Excellence for Maritime Archaeology) ; no. 3). 930.102804 Cover design and layout by Angela Di Giorgio and Jeremy Green Typeset by Jeremy Green Produced by Chipped Quill Publishing Services Printed by P.K. Print, Hamilton Hill Foreword Maritime history and maritime archaeology are two interesting and important subjects that are practised at a high level by a large number of well-qualified experts in Australia. Not being an expert in these fields myself, there hardly seemed to be a reason why I would get involved in organizing a colloquium on these topics. During the preparations for the tricentenary of Willem de Vlamingh’s voyage of discovery, and in the preliminary phases of the Duyfken project, however, it became clear that the bilateral co-operation in this field had almost come to a standstill. The ANCODS (Agreement between Australia and the Netherlands Concerning Old Dutch Shipwrecks) Committee seemed to have exhausted its brief, once agreement was reached on the future of the wreck sites and on the care for the innumerable objects which had been found. Money for joint projects or for travelling was hard to find. Still, many important questions remained unanswered; many objects begged to be studied. The concurrence of the launch of the tricentennial celebrations and the laying of the keel of the Duyfken offered a unique setting to try to revitalize the co-operation by bringing together all the interested parties. It took very little effort to convince the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs to give a subsidy for the travel costs for a number of prominent Dutch experts. The time was obviously ripe. Even more important, the Prince of Orange, Prince Willem- v Alexander agreed to address the Colloquium and officially open it during his visit to Western Australia, giving another indication of the renewed official interest for the joint maritime history of our two nations. The rest—as they say—is history, but a very well-documented history because you will find in the following pages the complete proceedings of the Australia– Netherlands Colloquium on Maritime Archaeology and Maritime History held at the Western Australian Maritime Museum 7–9 January 1997. That, in itself, is an important achievement and I am grateful to the editors for a job well done. However, with all those that participated in the Colloquium I express the hope and the expectation that the co-operation will not end here, but that ways and means will be found to continue what started so successfully in Fremantle in January 1997. David van Iterson Ex-Consul General for the Netherlands Opening address Prince Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange There is a special relationship between Australia and the Netherlands, and particularly between Western Australia and the Netherlands. Proof of this, if proof were needed, are the events taking place here in Fremantle: a symposium and an exhibition to commemorate a Dutch seafarer, and the laying down of the keel of a replica 17th-century Dutch ship. The fact that I am here today, and the previous visits to this country by Her Majesty the Queen, are further evidence of this link. What is the basis, we may ask, for this special relationship between one of the smallest countries in Europe and a continent thousands of kilometres away on the other side of the world? The answer to this question goes back some 390 years to 1606, when a small Dutch vessel called the Duyfken explored the north coast of the Australian continent in search of lucrative trading opportunities. In the years that followed, Dutch seafarers put this continent on the world map, by trial and error and, in some cases, sheer luck. The hazardous voyage from the Cape of Good Hope to Bantam in the East Indies, posed great navigational difficulties in the vast expanses of the southern Indian Ocean. It was not possible to calculate longitude accurately with the instruments available at the time. In this way, many of the ships of the Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC), the United Dutch East India Company, happened upon what was then called the unknown Southland or Terra Australis Incognita—some of them with disastrous vii results. Hundreds of Dutch seamen found their last resting-place far from their homes, off the west coast of Australia. Gradually, the continent took shape on the charts of the 17th century—by chance and yet with a purpose. The Directors of the VOC wanted to find out what the unknown continent had to offer and they dispatched explorers to seek answers. The names of Abel Tasman and Willem de Vlamingh are forever linked with these ventures, and it is Willem de Vlamingh whom we are commemorating today. For a while, the VOC considered establishing a refreshment station on the west coast, similar to the one at the Cape of Good Hope. If they had gone ahead, history might have taken a different turn. However, the plans came to nothing when the VOC lost interest in the Southland because of its lack of commercial potential. What remained were the stories passed down through the centuries and the evidence on the sea bed. In recent years, Australian archaeologists have succeeded in bringing to the surface hundreds of items—many of spectacular interest—from the wrecks of VOC ships. The Western Australian Maritime Museum in Fremantle bears witness to their work, and the Zuytdorp, the Zeewijk, the Vergulde Draeck and, of course, the Batavia have become household names. It is not only Australians who are interested, however. The construction of a replica of the Batavia has made many thousands of people in the Netherlands aware of the existence of this special link with Australia. It is both fascinating and inspiring to realize how archaeological sources such as the everyday items retrieved from shipwrecks can contribute to a special relationship between two countries. They are tangible evidence of historical links. They have brought us together in Fremantle, and I feel sure that our shared maritime heritage will continue to bridge the geographical distance between our two countries for many years to come. viii Contents Foreword David van Iterson v Opening address Prince Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange vii Preface x Introduction Graeme Henderson xi List of contributors xii ANCODS 1997 Recommendations and resolutions xiii SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY NETHERLANDS AND AUSTRALIA, THE VOC 1 The Dutch Republic and the early discoveries J. P. Sigmond 3 Aboriginal–Dutch relations in North Queensland 1606–1756 Noel Loos 8 Willem de Vlamingh’s exploratory voyage to the Southland in 1696–1697 Phillip Playford 19 PROTECTION OF SITES, AND ANCODS 29 Discovery, legislation and litigation G. A. Kennedy 30 MUSEUM PROGRAMMES: AUSTRALIA AND ABROAD 37 Children’s programmes in the Netherlands A. Geerdink 38 Investigations at the Zuytdorp sites 1971–1994 M. McCarthy 41 VOC shipwrecks of the world Jeremy Green 53 Destination Batavia Lodewijk Wagenaar 60 Archives and wrecks: Australian–Dutch co-operation Robert Parthesius 68 ix THE ABROLHOS ISLANDS AND THE VOC 75 The wreck of the Batavia Bruce Melrose 77 Where is Batavia’s Graveyard? Hugh Edwards 85 The Batavia incident: the sites Jeremy Green 95 Land archaeology in the Houtman Abrolhos Myra Stanbury 101 Proposal for the study of human skeletal remains from the Abrolhos Juliette Pasveer 118 NEW APPROACHES TO HERItage 123 Discovering our heritage with ships of exploration Nick Burningham 124 The use of archive material for research in maritime history and archaeology in the South Asian region K. D. Paranavitana 130 A view of the Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum W. F. J. Mörzer Bruyns 134 After ANCODS—the unfinished business of underwater archaeology: a Commonwealth view Patricia Snigg 138 A view from the Tricentennial Committee Thom Dercksen 142 A cultural tourism perspective Jenny Beahan 144 Appendices 149 References 164 Preface In a volume written by Australian and Dutch authors and partly based on old Dutch writings, problems of etymology and Anglicization are bound to arise. There was no such thing as a uniform system of spelling in the 17th and 18th centuries, and there was a great variation in the spelling of names of persons, ships or places in the documents of the VOC, sometimes even within the same document. Moreover, in Dutch and English historiography, different traditions in the spelling of names arose.