Shipwreck

The vessel remnants discovered during the construction of the new bridge in 2019 were of an Australian-made timber boat constructed when small timber vessels were essential transportation within the colony.

The vessel’s construction demonstrates early colonial ship building techniques. What survived included most of the keel with an attached keelson and mast step, three frames, roughly shaped with an adze tool and attached to the keel/keelson, and one other frame attached to an individual plank. Overall, approximately 36 planks and 22 frames were recovered. The vessel was located upside down with a full rabbet line (a grove cut into the edge of the keel) surviving.

This digital reconstruction is based on the actual timbers found during the archaeological excavation.