Epic tales of survival against the odds and mysterious trade routes between Australia and the rest of the world are one step closer to explanation after a team of archaeologists discovered four 19th century shipwrecks off the Queensland coast.
It is believed the four ships were travelling along the so-called Outer Route, a trade passage between Australia and destinations including Indonesia, India and Mauritius.
The discoveries were among eight recorded shipwrecks on the very remote Kenn Reef, a veritable wall that rises from the ocean floor some 520 kilometres from the mainland.
"It's a very harsh environment depending on the weather," said Dr James Hunter from the Australian National Maritime Museum.
"So what we're dealing with in many cases are large objects that are robust like an anchor, like canons and pieces of deck equipment like winches."
And amazing stories of survival lay behind these objects.
Maritime archaeologists Renee Malliaros and Pete Illidge work with team member Lee Graham to document a cannon at one of the shipwreck sites. Source: Silentworld Foundation
Dr Hunter's team hopes that among the four shipwrecks will be the brig Bona Vista, lost in 1828, and the barque Jenny Lind, which was lost in 1850.
"The survivors (of the Bona Vista) were stranded on a sandbar for eight weeks," Dr Hunter said.
"They knew that if they didn't get off that sandbar they were going to die. So they worked together and salvaged timbres of the shipwreck and actually built a boat."
The survivors of the barque Jenny Lind were also able to construct a new boat from flotsam and jetsam and rescue themselves.
"Even with these small discoveries, we're able to piece together a broader puzzle," Dr Hunter said.
The team were able to record the site using 3D photogrammetry - a cutting edge tool that utlises digital photography to generate a 3D rendition of the discovery to prevent the site being disturbed.
John Mullen watches maritime archaeologist Paul Hundley pilots a drone at Kenn Reefs. The drone was trialled to obtain aerial imagery of the shipwreck material. Source: Silentworld Foundation
Dr Hunter also hoped the discoveries might shed light on the mysterious trade in contraband between Australia and those northern port cities.
"A lot of (the ships) carried speculative cargo and these are actually more interesting to us as archaeologists because the normal cargos were fairly well documented," he said.
"But the speculative cargos were carried by the crew and by the officers and in many cases they were looking to trade on the side. That's quite interesting because, in some instances, they were often trading in contraband, goods that people weren't necessarily supposed to be trading in."
Dr Hunter's team hopes to complete their analysis of the site in eight to 10 months.
-with AAP
