Preserving historic shipwrecks
In 1850 the coastal trader the Clarence, carrying a cargo of live sheep, sank off St Leonards in Port Phillip Bay. Now lying on the ocean floor the wreck is rated as one of the earliest and best preserved examples of an Australian built trading vessel.
From 16 April to 12 May 2012 a team of 40 local, national and international researchers and volunteers will work on the site to survey, excavate and record the shipwreck structure.
Mr Anthony Barham, Coordinator of the Master of Archaeological Science program at ANU, is one of the three chief investigators on the project.
With a $500,000 grant from the Australian Research Council the full three year project will involve three Australian universities along with ten heritage organisations, government departments from each state and territory and four archaeologists from Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.