A layered history of Rooswijk (1740): from ship to global stories

Join us during Australian Heritage Festival to explore the global stories and connections to WA revealed by the Rooswijk.  

The tale begins with a Dutch East Indiaman bound for Batavia (now Jakarta, in Indonesia). Filled with money and building materials, Rooswijk sank on a horrible night in early 1740, after it foundered on the Goodwin Sands - near the Straits of Dover - in the UK. When the wreck was discovered, it was seen primarily as an opportunity to make money by selling recovered artefacts.

In 2017 and 2018, archaeological excavations were conducted, and the wreck revealed to researchers the rich stories that could be told from its remains: stories of courage, world trade, tough life, oppression and colonialism. Excavation of the wreckage offered insight into the lives of Thomas Huydekoper and other crew members, and tells us other stories about about the role and status of foreigners on board Dutch VOC ships.   

Study of underwater cultural heritage sites such as Rooswijk can offer an amazing wealth of information to be developed from material remains. This allows contemporary researchers a significant extra layer of knowledge about the maritime past, and how we understand these shipwrecks today. Martijn Manders and his team are currently working in partnership with WA Museum and others through an Australian Research Council Linkage project (titled Mobilising Dutch East India Company collections for new global stories). 

Join visiting researcher Martijn Manders for an insight into the Dutch VOC ships, and some fresh insights into the role that Dutch maritime encounters with the Western Australian coast have played in our maritime past. After the talk presentation, Martijn will offer a forum session as part of the overall research project. This participatory session will ask WA locals about their perceptions of the VOC and what kind of role these Dutch legacies of contact with the Western Australian coast has in their lives today. We would love to hear your thoughts on the topic!

About the presenter

Martijn Manders is coordinator of International Maritime Heritage at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, a full department of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. He is also Professor of underwater archaeology and cultural heritage management at the University of Leiden.