Historical treasures stolen from old Freo jetty
- On 08/11/2008
- In Illegal Recoveries
- 0 comments
From Perth Now
Scavengers have been accused of stealing WA's maritime history by taking artefacts and bottles from the seabed at an historical Fremantle site.
The WA Museum said divers had been disturbing the seabed to remove material from the historical Long Jetty site and Bathers Bay.
Museum acting chief executive Diana Jones said Long Jetty was declared an historic site in 1988 and was protected under the WA Maritime Archaeology Act 1973.
“Long Jetty was recognised as a site of historical significance after the museum’s maritime archaeologists surveyed the area and found a wealth of objects dating as far back as the 1840s,” Ms Jones said.
Thousands of bottles and jars, cutlery, lumps of coal, sheep bones and other items were surveyed and documented. Among the personal belongings recovered were watches, toys, shoes, costume jewellery and coins.
The jetty was at its busiest during the gold rush days of the early 1890s.
It became known as the Long Jetty when the original Ocean Jetty was extended in 1887.
Add a comment