Pt Walter Stone Barge PLUS MORE with Jon Carpenter

Name: Pt Walter Stone Barge PLUS MORE with Jon Carpenter
Start: 2025-09-16T18:15:00+08:00
Location: 1 Mews Road , Fremantle, WA, Australia, Western Australia 6160

Schedule

Tue, 16 Sep, 2025 at 06:15 pm

UTC+08:00

Location

1 Mews Road , Fremantle, WA, Australia, Western Australia 6160 | Fremantle, WA

YOU’RE INVITED!
EVERYONE IS WELCOME….
Pt Walter Stone Barge
Wrecked in storm 1882
At present this is the oldest wreck yet discovered in the Swan River.
More details are here.
https://swanriverheritage.com/location/114
A flat belonging to Mr. A. Dearden, engaged in boating stone, has sank opposite Point Resolution in about thirty feet of water, in consequence of the boisterous weather. The flat was heavily laden and was being towed by the steamer Advance. (The Daily News, 25 August 1882).
Tuesday 16th September
6.15pm for a 6.30pm start.
In the Rottnest Island Authority Walyalup Office,
1 Mews Rd, Fremantle.
Free parking is available at Reception and along Mews Rd.
Come and listen to hear MORE….
Please RSVP by hit GOING or INTERESTED on this event page, THANK YOU!

History
Mr Dearden held contracts over many years for supplying stone to government, to be used in building construction and roadbuilding activities. For example, in 1882 at the time of Dearden’s wreck, a Mr A. (Alfred) Dearden was contracted by the Public Works Department to supply “850 cubic yards of limestone (cap lime) for roadbuilding purposes, at Perth Railway Station, at 7d. 3s. per yard” (Inquirer and Commercial News, 22/3/1882 p.3).
The Fremantle riverbank quarries operated from at least 1852 until the 1960s. From 1897, limestone quarried from Rocky Bay was used to construct the massive North and South Moles forming the entrance to Fremantle Inner Harbour. Extensive stone quarrying of Rocky Bay for over 100 years changed the Swan River landscape, resulting in the removal of six of the seven hills originally lining the riverbank, and severely impacting the seventh hill, leaving a terraced limestone cliff in their place (Cooper 2012)

OUR SPEAKER
Jon Carpenter will talk about Conservation projects at the WA Museum and in particular the Demijon from 'Stone barge wreck'
Jon is a Conservator | Western Australian Museum
Jon has dived on ship and aircraft wrecks around Australia and overseas, he has worked at the museum since 1974.
Some of the objects he’s helped recover and conserve are displayed at the WA Shipwrecks Museum in Fremantle. These include a cast iron cannon from Australia’s earliest shipwreck, Trial (wrecked in 1622) and a wrought iron anchor from the Zuytdorp (1712). Other objects, now located at the Museum of Tropical Queensland, are a silver pocket watch and pistol from HMS Pandora (1791).
“Objects that we recover from the ocean have absorbed water and incorporated salts and have been altered by it, legislation protects underwater archaeological sites so you cannot indiscriminately recover material. You must also know how to conserve it properly,”

Please RSVP by hit GOING or INTERESTED on this event page, THANK YOU!
ABOUT MAAWA
Created in 1974, MAAWA (the Maritime Archaeological Association of Western Australia) is primarily an archaeological association with members having the opportunity to dive on shipwrecks, and also to participate in research and management of maritime archaeological heritage sites around the coast of Western Australia.
Read more about us here....
https://www.maawa.net