MMHN October 2022 Update

Greetings all  

Victoria is awash, inundated, flood water is causing havoc, breaking river banks – and hearts – on its way to the ocean. Perhaps a timely moment to consider the immense power of water and its critical importance in our lives.

Contents:
(Click on the headings below for specific items, or scroll down for the full Update)

1. Ocean Literacy
2. Flood mitigation – 19th century Yarra River
3. Wave Energy – A first off King Island
4. Wave energy of another kind – World Ship Society
5. Central Pier Saga 
6. Westgate Bridge collapse
7. Robbed at Sea
8. Pirates or Privateers?
9. International Maritime Law
10. Wrecks – Global Heritage Assets
11. Menace of Fishing
12. Fishing matters in Victoria
13. Paddle steamers for sale
14. Big Boat Spend
15. Robot warships
16. Yarra Riverbank Archaeology
17. Maritime Museums of Victoria (MMV)- Reports 

1. Ocean Literacy
Water has everyone’s attention. We are being encouraged to understand that vast bodies of water are inextricably enmeshed in glaciers, icefields, aquifers, marshes, dams, bogs, lakes and rivers etc. There is no meaningful demarcation. Oceans cannot be perceived simply as water situated ‘off our coast‘. Without the oceans there can be no life. Oceans create our atmosphere and store heat. Amid climate change, oceans can no longer be understood as timeless and unchanging, but are multifaceted, in a state of ’flux’ in relation to spaces, volumes, temperature, composition – and capacity to threaten.

Despite centuries of exploration and analysis, much of the ocean remains unexplored. We play in it, we work in and on it, it enables trade, it is a resource for extraction, we co-opt areas for conquest, reclamation, control, and we are vulnerable to the changes in our critical relationship with the ocean.

UNESCO lists 50 flagship marine protected areas of ‘Outstanding Universal Value: Beacons of Hope in a Changing Ocean’. Since the inscription of the first marine site on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1981, a global collection of unique ocean places stretching from the tropics to the poles has been listed. Today, the list includes 50 unique ocean places across 37 countries – recognized for their unique marine biodiversity, singular ecosystem, unique geological processes or incomparable beauty. There are six maritime precincts listed in Australia: Great Barrier Reef, Lord Howe Group, Shark Bay Ningaloo Reef WA, Heard, Macdonald and Macquarie Islands,
See https://whc.unesco.org/en/marine-programme/

2. Flood mitigation – 19th century Yarra River 
If we accept that oceans are but one part of our aquatic ecosystem then flood mitigation is a topic of serious concern across most of eastern Australian. The admirable and free Melbourne on-line publication The Conversation (14 October 2022) reports that management of Yarra flooding mitigation has been happening for a very long time. Historian Margaret Cook writes that floods in Victoria are uncommon. Here’s why they’re happening now – and how they compare to the past, click here for more.  We are very familiar with Sir John Coode’s work on Victoria Harbour to enable the growth of shipping, but generally less well known are the floods which led to the decision to alter the course of the Yarra to lessen the floods which so often inundated much of Melbourne. Margaret writes that this was one reason Engineer John Coode was responsible for designing the new course for the Yarra, which also had the benefit of a wide new channel to improve access for ships. In the process, his workers created what’s now known as Coode Island [and Victoria Harbour].

3. Wave Energy – A first off King Island 
When we think of King Island we think of Bass Strait wrecks, lighthouses and cheese, but Jennifer Moran reports an exciting maritime development there (ABC, 31 July 2022). For the first time in Australia’s history, a Wave Energy Converter has successfully generated energy from the chaotic and wild ocean waves and is already powering homes. WaveSwell set out to prove the capabilities of the technology. CEO Paul Geason claims that in twelve months generating electricity has been achieved by capturing the wave energy of the Southern Ocean, see more here.

In 2010, a ‘huge swell’ sank a trial generator and in 2014 another was being towed into position in SA when a flotation device failed. See more here and here. However, under the right wave conditions the UniWave200 Generator can make enough energy for 200 homes of a quality acceptable to Hydro Tasmania for the King Island grid. Constructed in Launceston and extensively tested at the Australian Maritime College, the $12m generator was towed across to King Island and placed on the seabed at Grassy Harbour. Waves enter the generator rise and fall, moving air up into the turbine, which then converts into power. It sits on the seabed and has an opening on one side to allow the movement of the waves in and out of the chamber. MMHN is a member of the Australian Ocean Energy Group (AOEG).

4. Wave energy of another kind – World Ship Society 
MMHN thanks the World Ship Society for the amazing and dramatic image appearing in their October Newsletter. “Action shot of the month goes to Kevin Finnigan who got these two photographs of the 278m–40m Post panamax container vessel YM Success as she rolls near the trough on her approach to Port Phillip Heads on 12 September bound for Melbourne’s West Swanson Dock but instead anchored off Melbourne awaiting structural surveyors. There may have been stability issues at play or at very least she was very tender but she did perform a round turn prior to this approach and by the time she had passed Portsea inbound the roll had subsided. The Victorian branch of the World Ship Society now meets on the first Saturday of each month at the Port Education Centre in Lorimer St Port Melbourne at 10.00am. Membership enquiries can be made through MMHN.

5. Central Pier Saga 
Early in October 2022 Victoria Development Victoria (DV) made an application to Heritage Victoria (HV) proposing that a contractor be appointed to demolish this heritage-listed maritime infrastructure, stating that ‘Engineering advice has confirmed that the condition of the pier continues to deteriorate and no loading of the pier or access onto or below the deck is advisable under current conditions.’ They proposed that work is to be completed in two stages: Stage One (Design and Investigation) and Stage Two (Demolition) ‘Including, but not limited to, demolition of Central Pier including Shed 9 and 14, the decking and piers to the seabed’, see here.

You can read the heritage Statement of Significance for Victoria Dock here.

You can also read the permit granted by Heritage Victoria for the demolition of Central Pier here.

Note the really important wording in the last paragraph – reference to a plan for the whole of Victoria Dock, not just Central pier and the little adjacent nubs of harbour esplanade. ‘Heritage Victoria recognises that a well-considered future plan is required for Victoria Dock, and acknowledges that this will take some time to develop. The risk of collapse is such that Development Victoria has not lodged a proposal to rebuild or redevelop the site as part of this permit. Development Victoria has publicly declared their intention to engage on the future of Victoria Dock, and community engagement has commenced via https://engage.vic.gov.au/central-pier.

We encourage everyone to participate in this community engagement.

6. Westgate Bridge collapse 
A timely reminder. MMHN member, historian Janet Bolitho reflects upon a maritime disaster in Melbourne in 1970 with the collapse of the Westgate Bridge. “Flags at half mast for the 35 workers who died in the 1970 Westgate Bridge collapse. Being able to speak up about safety concerns and hard-won gains in workplace safety are their legacy as well as the powerful community of the bereaved, the survivors and those supporting them.

7. Robbed at Sea 
The Centre for Future Work, The Australia Institute (27 September 2022) reports research by Rod Pickette, Lily Raynes and Jim Stanford into endemic wage theft from seafarers in Australian waters. Seafarers working on foreign-registered freight ships in Australian waters face regular theft of wages and other entitlements due to legal loopholes and poor enforcement of labour standards. The report, titled Robbed At Sea, examines records of wage inspections conducted over the last decade by the International Transport Federation (ITF), a global federation of maritime and other transportation unions. The ITF sponsors a small team of four inspectors in Australia, to conduct spot checks of international vessels visiting our ports. See https://www.futurework.org.au/research

Such injustice appears to be normalised behaviour by unscrupulous ship owners who fail to recognise that the work of seafarers actually enables the conduct of maritime trade. In perceiving labour as a ‘cost’ [of doing business] which effectively negates the reality that seafarers are human. During the pandemic, horrific accounts emerged of ship owners displaying this inhumane mindset, abandoning crews, leaving crews stranded on board in ports far from home, unable to disembark, ill and unvaccinated. Because seafarers work in international waters which are not always subject to national laws and standards, and because their work is largely hidden from the view of government regulators, the media, and the public at large, international seafarers engaged on foreign-registered ships commonly experience widespread exploitation at the hands of their employers. Seafarers suffer exploitation when the ‘social’ aspect of their work is subsumed into the ‘economic’ particularly in unregulated places as ‘Un-bound Labour’ – or quasi slavery. Besides wage theft or extensive underpayment of wages and other forms of compensation (including pension contributions) seafarers also work and live on board in very unsafe or unsanitary conditions New figures released by the International Transport Workers’ Federation show that in 2021, US$44,613,880 seafarers’ wages were recovered by the ITF’s network of inspectors. The number of reported ship abandonments more than doubled from 40 in 2019, to 85 in 2020. See more here.

8. Pirates or Privateers? 
What category do ship owners fall into if they in effect ’rob’ their crew? You decide. Do you know the difference? The sea port town of Halifax prospered from the 17^th century and the ‘respectable’ maritime ‘industry’ of privateering played a key role. Whereas pirates acted on their own authority attacking vessels of all states indiscriminately for profit. During the frequent periods of war privateers were granted a “Letter of Marque” commissioned under the Law of Nations to attack enemy merchant ships. This convenient ‘outsourcing’ left the respective Navy to concentrate on strategic campaigns.

9. International Maritime Law 
Whether in relation to piracy, seafarers wage theft, extractive industries, ocean energy infrastructure, sustainable aquaculture, fisheries, pollution or wrecks, the legality of national agreements or claims to ocean territorial waters is increasing murky. Given that the ocean is critical to the survival of humanity, it seems obvious that we need to consider extending the reach of international maritime law beyond national boundaries. Carefully, equitably and legally we need to urgently consider the impact on us all of new maritime industries, e.g., ocean mining, fishing and other exploitative engagement with ‘our shared seas’. There are signs that this is happening.

10. Wrecks – Global Heritage Assets 
Should nations ‘own’ shipwrecks off coasts? Maritime archaeologists around the globe are considering the context of all ship wrecks as ‘maritime assets’. The rationale for this reassessment is that any given wreck has a ‘context’ made of myriad variables, e.g., where it foundered; where the vessel was designed and/or was built; the purpose of its final voyage (trade, conquest or war); who owned the lost cargo; the nationalities of its lost crew, its owners, home or registered port; who found the wreck; who claimed salvage rights? Countries surrounding the Baltic Sea have reached an agreement reflecting the ‘context’ of many wrecks there. These heritage assets are ‘shared’ heritage assets – which should be understood as ‘time capsules’ valuable to all humanity. The particular qualities, quantity and location of wrecks in the of Baltic have led to a ‘re-think. “There are very few places where the preservation of shipwrecks is as good as in the Baltic Sea. Due to low oxygen levels, cold water, lack of light and the absence of wood-boring organisms, the condition of ships that have sunk in these waters is extraordinary. Combined with the importance of the Baltic Sea for maritime trade and as a site of historical conflicts, this has resulted in large numbers of underwater ‘time capsules’ in the form of well-preserved wrecks. The Badewanne team of volunteer divers based in Finland has for the last 20 years made it their mission to explore and document these historical shipwrecks and bring video evidence to the surface in order to share it with the general public. Through close collaboration with researchers, heritage organizations and governmental departments around the world, the team has found, identified and documented many wrecks lost from the 17th century to WWII. In such a context, ownership, discover or salvage rights are rendered irrelevant. Click here.

A delightful example to ponder. Who ‘owns this wreck? A wreck was discovered in July 2020 when a team descended to 85m onto what they thought was a WWI minesweeper. To their great surprise and excitement, they instead discovered a 17th-century Dutch fluyt, sitting upright on the bottom in an almost-intact condition aside from some trawl damage.

11. Menace of Fishing 
Persisting with the concept of collective ‘ownership’ of the ocean, we should be worried about ALDFG an acronym for ‘abandoned, lost, or otherwise discarded fishing gear’ which is considered to be ocean pollution, with extensive adverse social, economic and environmental impact. CSIRO researchers report their findings in The Conversation (13 October 2022): 740,000 km of fishing line and 14 billion hooks. The researchers reveal just how much fishing gear is lost at sea each year; 2% per cent of ALL fishing gear used worldwide ends up polluting the oceans. The amount of longline fishing gear littering the ocean each year can circle the Earth more than 18 times, based on interviews with 450 fishers from seven of the world’s major fishing countries including Peru, Indonesia, Morocco and the US. Discarded fishing gear and gear entering the ocean, at current loss rates, in 65 years there would be enough fishing nets littering the sea to cover the entire planet. See here.

Countries (in black) where interviews with fishers occurred. The number of surveys conducted for major gear types/fisheries are listed (bullet points) below each country’s name.

12. Fishing matters in Victoria 
MMHN member, academic and art curator Valentina Bydernova, is project manager of a fascinating and provocative event, Maritime Melbourne: Victorian Fisheries from boat to plate recently exhibited at Magnet Galleries. The project was conceived as a response to recent cuts to sustainable commercial fisheries in Port Phillip Bay. While netting was banned in April 2022 longline fishing continues and there is an increase in the consumption of imported fish, including bait. Photographs with informative captions challenged the diverse audience at the exhibition launch as to the appropriate management of fishing operations in Victorian waters – fishing industry, seafood marketers, recreational fishermen, restaurateurs, fisher families and environmentalists raising questions about the ecology of the Bay, the impact of controlled fishing and the undesirable residues on the seabed from years of industrial outflow from the rivers, etc. One participant remarked ‘I think we all went away much better educated about and appreciation of the intersecting problems facing those making vexed decisions’. MMHN congratulates Valentina and the RMIT photographers Danial Walton, Karman Gibson and James Moore who documented the research.

13. Paddle steamers for sale 
Extraordinary situation – especially in these flood-prone times, Tamara Clark (ABC, 6 October 2022) reports that three historic Mildura paddle steamers are for sale. Second and third-generation paddle-steamer operators are selling these historic Murray River vessels. The fleet has been a cornerstone of the Sunraysia community since PS Melbourne was first purchased in 1955. See here.

14. Big Boat Spend 
Cameron Stewart reports (The Australian, 30 September 2022) that a high-powered Spanish delegation met with Defence Minister Richard Marles ramping up its bid to build three new air warfare RAN destroyers at a cost of $6 billion, promising that they will be delivered by the end of the decade. UK firm BAE Systems and some senior navy officials are said to be worried that any decision to build three new AWDs could see the government reduce its order for the nine Hunter-class frigates that BAE is to build under a $45 billion project.

15. Robot warships 
Fascinating maritime collaborations continue to inspire. Shipbuilder Austal took possession of a decommissioned RAN patrol boat with the objective of conversion into a vessel able to operate autonomously. Taking a similar approach, the RAN War Innovation Branch and the Trusted Autonomous Systems Defence Cooperative Research Centre are intent on transforming the former HMAS Maitland into a ‘robot and warship’. Austal is already involved in the US Navy’s bid to operate robot warships in conflict zones. CEO Paddy Greg says it wants to design and construct ships that could ‘outsmart’ adversaries and boost the Australian Defence Force’s ability to ‘fight and win at sea’ (Australian Financial Review Online, 7 October 2022).

16. Yarra Riverbank Archaeology 
Historians Emma Russell and Madeline Pentland (HistoryatWork) offer fascinating insight into what lies beneath the Seafarers Rest Park area along Northbank aka CoM Greenline. In their recent study entitled ‘The layers beneath our feet along the Birrarung/Yarra’ which looked at timber piles and the wharves, they noted that ‘Melbourne became an instant city with over 123,000 people by 1861 with a commercial destiny tied to the river’s wharfs. These became the entry and exit points for pastoralists’ wool, beef and grain empires, urban manufacturing industries, and millions of imports and exports. With the shipping, people, activity, and ballooning of human life in general the river and its banks were polluted and trampled on, and the waterways were used for industrial waste.’ We can speculate on the debris which accompanied such port operations and intense habitation. Their work focusses on the original berth (1864) on the site of today’s No. 5 wharf (formerly No. 12) once used for coal and general cargo. All sheds and some berths on the North Wharf were progressively reconstructed in the 1880s and 1890s, and several again in the late 1930s including No.5 shed, which by then was used for Victorian coastal and intra-state trade. Behind it a bluestone pavement was constructed, later covered in asphalt in 1958. See here.

17. Maritime Museums of Victoria (MMV)- Reports 

• Cerberus Quite amazing. Ms Connie Heyden in the USA emailed that she had acquired an 1886 Manual for Victorian Naval Forces and was keen to ‘re-patriate’ this item by donating it to the Friends of the Cerberus (FofC). FoC were aware of only one other copy of the 1886 Manual for Victorian Naval Forces held by the Mitchell Library, NSW. This manual was updated and reprinted in 1887 and 1890. FoC also hold the Cerberus Turret Drill Manual circa 1877. There is much interest in these manuals which may be downloaded without cost and have been already downloaded at least 30,000 times. See https://www.cerberus.com.au/manuals_printing.html
• Sea Chest. A sea chest belonging to Sick Berth Steward Reginald Ernest Goldfinch was donated by Barbara Goldfinch and the Goldfinch family. Reg did not serve on board Cerberus or in the Victorian Naval Forces, but he did serve at the Williamstown Naval Depot in 1912 the year that HMAS Cerberus was designated as the ‘name ship’ for the Williamstown Naval Depot. Many thanks to for donating Reg’s Sea Chest to Friends of the Cerberus.

• More on the Cerberus – Alphabet soup? 

HMVS to HMAS, HMCS or ACNS? In 2012 John Rogers Fleet Engineer (Victorian Navy) website, research and FofC President wrote the following to provide clarification and insight into Australian naval history through the evolving designations of vessel. On federation in 1901, HMVS Cerberus (Her Majesty’s Victorian Ship) became HMCS Cerberus (His Majesty’s Commonwealth Ship) or ACNS Cerberus (Australian Commonwealth Naval Ship). Given the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) commenced 1911, HMAS Cerberus. However, an alternative view is that the naval vessels of the colonies transferred to the Commonwealth of Australia on Federation in 1901. So, had Australia been attacked after Federation, naval vessels (i.e. Australian Navy) would have attempted to defend the new country. It therefore follows that the designation HMAS would have been appropriate in 1901.That said, a letter written by Lieutenant Colquhoun to Lord Tennyson in 1905 was written on letterhead bearing the words HMAS Cerberus. Furthermore, a works order written in 1908 is on Commonwealth Naval Forces of Victoria letterhead, bearing the words HMAS Cerberus. On Federation the Victorian ship HMVS Cerberus became HMAS Cerberus. The Royal Assent was not required for Cerberus to be designated HMVS or required for Cerberus to be designated HMAS. The Royal Assent granted in 1911 simply meant that whereas the Victorian Navy was never the Royal Victorian Navy, the Australian Navy, known as the Commonwealth Naval Forces until 1911, and did gain the word ‘Royal’, i.e. 1911 Royal Australian Navy Commonwealth Naval Forces ships in 1910 now belonged to the Royal Australian Navy and were designated HMAS. How the designation of its naval ships will change should Australia become a republic will be an interesting decision.

• HMAS Castlemaine’s 80th Anniversary

MMHN Board member RAN CDRE Greg Yorke collaborated with Castlemaine Ship Museum members to mark the 80th Anniversary of Castlemaine’s commissioning, which was a key feature of Navy Day at Williamstown on 9 October. A ceremonial sunset and ‘Beat to Quarters’ event on the wharf and ship at Gem Pier followed a reception at the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria. The ceremonial elements performed by uniformed personnel from HMAS Cerberus, the Navy Band and TS Voyager. Australian shipyards as part of the Commonwealth Government’s wartime shipbuilding programme. Twenty were built on Admiralty order but manned and commissioned by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Thirty-six were built for the RAN and four for the Royal Indian Navy. The Castlemaine was constructed at Williamstown Naval Dockyard at a cost of £250,000, laid down on 17 February 1941 and launched, with some difficulty, on 7 August 1941 by Mrs R.G. Menzies, wife of the then Prime Minister. Cold weather had set hard the tallow on the slipway and the obstinate ship refused to budge. After 20 minutes the ship was eventually pulled into the water by the tug Keera.

•  Osborne House

Formerly home of the Naval College 1911 prior to WW1. MMHN recommends you tune into an excellent video by Andrew Mackinnon, a former Anti-Submarine Warfare specialist officer. The video outlines the history of the Naval College – its egalitarian approach in recruitment of 13 year old cadets differed from that of the Royal Naval College where recruitment reflected privilege not merit or aptitude, and the quality breadth of the tuition offered is revealed. See https://navyvic.net/associations/nhs/recordings.html

Stay ‘dry and afloat’
Until next month,