Around Straya
Geraldton is another amazing place. We arrived there at ten a clock, we stayed at Sunset Caravan Park. This is where our adventure begins in Geraldton. We only had one adventure in Geraldton because we didn’t have much time there. And guess where we went? To the Museum! We got there just before it had to close. So, we only had a quick look. It was amazing! They had videos on about the Aboriginal people and there were stories of crashed ships too and near the end there was some stuffed animals and that was our adventure in Geraldton.
Parents Corner
Geraldton Museum has some very interesting shipwreck stories. Three shipwreck stories from the WA coast are recorded in the museum – about 60km North past Kalbarri, Ledge Point and South on the Abrolhos Islands in Geraldton. The Batavia is the most famous of the stories, which was a shipwreck on the Abrolhos Islands, however the shipwreck we focused on was the Zutydorp shipwreck which was on the coast 60km North of Kalbarri. This is their story:
The Zutydorp, built in 1701, was one of the largest and most heavily armed ships belonging to the Dutch East India Company.
The ship’s third voyage from the Netherlands to Batavia began on 27 July 1711. It was accompanied by the smaller Belvliet from whose log the story of the voyage comes. Both ships carried large amounts of coins to buy trade goods in Asia. The Zutydorp also carried 286 people. The ships ran short of food and water on the way to the Cape and there was a lot of sickness on board. On both ships, half of the people had died, deserted or were seriously ill by the time the Cape was reached.
The Zutydorp left the Cape on 21 April 1712 with 200 people on board. The Belvliet stayed behind. Another ship, the Kockenge was also sailing to Batavia. The ships were to keep together for the voyage, but the faster Zutydorp was soon out of sight.
It was never seen again…..
On the Western Australian coast, about half way between Shark Bay and the mouth of the Murchison River, there are spectacular limestone cliffs. The sea continually crashes against them. It was here, in 1927 that Tom Pepper, a stockman on the Tamala and Murchison House stations saw wreckage. In that same year, his wife, Lurlie, her sister Ada and their father Charlie Mallard and Ada’s husband Ernest Drage all went to the site and puzzled over its origin.
They visited the area many times over the years and collected relics, including some silver coins dated 1711. Word of the find reached Perth and in 1941 an expedition was mounted by the Sunday Times newspaper. The expedition members spent only a short time at the site and could not identify the wreck.
In 1954, a young geologist named Phillip Playford was working in the area. He met Tom Pepper, who told him of his finds. Playford immediately went to the site, climbed down the cliff to the wave swept platform below and quickly found a Dutch coin, a belt buckle, and the bottom of a square bottle of green glass.
It was Playford’s research in the Dutch archives that discovered the name of the ship, the Zutydorp.
Many expeditions were sent out to the ship, however it was a very dangerous place to dive. Finally divers found the wreck and it was declared a protected site.
Two campsites were found close by the wreck where it appeared survivors had used. They were named Campsite No 1 and Campsite No.2
There is a memorial to the Zutydorp just nearby Kalbarri townsite where there is a plaque that states they assume that the survivors from the wreck were almost certainly helped by local Aboriginal people. Researchers are investigating the possibility of a genetic link between Zutydorp survivors and local Aboriginals.
