The Department of Environment and Science (DES) has announced that four stolen coins from a notorious shipwreck off Australia’s west coast it has been looking after are to be sent to the Western Australian Shipwrecks Museum.
Principal Heritage Officer, Celeste Jordan said the coins, which dated back to the 1500s and 1600s, were taken without a permit from the Batavia wreck site at Morning Reef on the Houtman Abrolhos chain of islands.
“The Batavia was on her maiden voyage when she sank in the early hours of 4 June 1629 with more than 300 people on board,” Ms Jordan said.
“She was the flagship for the Dutch East India Company and one of four ships owned by that company, including Zeewick, Vergulde Draeck, and Zuytdorp, that sank off the coast of Western Australia.”
She said the Batavia was on a spice mission, but was also carrying a cargo of silver coins and antiquities belonging to the artist Rubens which were for sale to an Indian Mogul ruler.
Ms Jordan said some of the cargo was retrieved from the ocean floor and the Batavia wreck.
“They were unable to retrieve everything, and that brings us to 1992 when four coins were taken by a person without a permit from the shipwreck,” she said.
Removing artefacts or parts of a protected shipwreck is unlawful under Australia’s Underwater Cultural Heritage Act 2018.
“The person, now living in Queensland was unaware they had breached Australian law and recently sought a permit to keep the coins,” Ms Jordan said.
“Following a discussion with Commonwealth officers, the person was cooperative and agreed to surrender the coins.”
The Western Australian Shipwrecks Museum holds and displays a significant collection of Batavia artefacts.
