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Australia's underwater cultural heritage MoU with PNG

Here in Papua New Guinea’s warm, tropical waters lies HMAS AE1, the Royal Australian Navy’s first-ever wartime loss. Sunk in 1914, the submarine is one of many wrecks found off the PNG coast, serving as a reminder of the close ties between our two nations. Last month, those ties became stronger still, with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to work together to research and manage our underwater cultural heritage. The new agreement between our department, PNG’s National Museum and Art Gallery and PNG’s Conservation and Environment Protection Authority supports joint projects to research maritime archaeology, share information, build capacity and raise public awareness of shipwrecks, sunken relics and other underwater cultural heritage in both countries. It’s only the fourth such memorandum of understanding that Australia has entered into (after the USA, Indonesia and the Netherlands), reflecting the importance of our shared maritime history with our closest neighbour. For more information: bit.ly/2qq4GXdMany thanks to Paul G. Allen, Find AE1 Ltd, the @AusAustralian National Maritime Museum and Curtin University (© Navigea Ltd, R/V Petrel) for this photogrammetric 3D model of the wreck of HMAS AE1.AE1’s wreck site was found in 2017 by a joint team comprising researchers from Find AE1 Ltd., the Royal Australian Navy, Silentworld Foundation and the Australian National Maritime Museum. It was archaeologically surveyed and documented the following year by a team that included Find AE1 Ltd., Vulcan, Inc., the Australian National Maritime Museum and Curtin University.

Posted by Australian Department of the Environment and Energy on Monday, November 18, 2019