Australia’s oldest surviving colonial-era boat, discovered under layers of tidal sand and mud during excavation for the Barangaroo metro station, will be go on permanent display at the Australian National Maritime Musuem.
The nine-metre boat made from Sydney Blue Gum, Stringybark and Spotted Gum sourced in the Sydney basin, is believed to be around 200 years old and spent about 150 years buried under wharves, warehouses and shipyards on what was once a small harbourfront beach.
The boat was built using the “clinker” technique of overlapping timber planks to make up the hull, and is believed to have been used to transport goods around Sydney Harbour and Parramatta River.
Discovered during the Sydney Metro excavation at Barangaroo in 2018, the boat has been the subject of detailed conservation work and is now in the hands of Australian National Maritime Museum after being delivered in a refrigerated truck container due to its importance and delicate state.
The museum has begun to prepare the boat for permanent exhibition.
The 294 individual pieces of timber have been treated with Polyethylene Glycol, a product that reinforces the cell structure of the wood and reduces further degradation.
It has been used on several other notable recovered shipwrecks, including the Mary Rose, the Bremen Cog, Batavia, and the Vasa.
Polyethylene Glycol was added in increasing concentrations into tanks holding the timbers before remaining in the solution for a year-and-a-half.
The boat was then snap frozen and transported to Braeside, Victoria, to be professionally freeze-dried.
Minister for Transport John Graham said:
“Sydney Metro is the most modern form of transport in Sydney, and it is a nice bit of symmetry that it was construction of the metro line that unearthed the nation’s oldest colonial era boat.
“This is a piece of Australian history we are determined to protect for many more centuries to come.
“I want to thank those who carefully excavated the boat, preserved it and the Australian National Maritime Museum for giving it a permanent home so generations to come can get a unique look at was life on Sydney Harbour in the early 1800s.”
Be the first to comment