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Metal cube from the DUNBAR wreck site
Metal cube from the DUNBAR wreck site

Metal cube from the DUNBAR wreck site

Datebefore 1857
Object number00056131
NameArtefact
MediumMetal
ClassificationsVessels and fittings
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection Gift from Ron and Valerie Taylor
DescriptionCube recovered by Ron and Valerie Taylor in their expeditions to the wreck of the DUNBAR in the 1960s. The immigrant ship DUNBAR was wrecked off the south head of Port Jackson 20 August 1857 with the loss of 121 lives. There was only one survivor.HistoryBoth Ron Taylor and Valerie Taylor (née Heighes) were pioneers in Australian skindiving. Ron took up the sport in 1952 and Valerie in 1956; they met as members of St George Spearfishing Club in Sydney and were married in 1963. At this period there was little awareness of marine conservation and both Ron and Valerie excelled at the sport of competitive spearfishing. Valerie won the Ladies National Spearfishing Championships three years in a row in the early 1960s, and Ron took out the World Spearfishing Championships in Tahiti in 1965. The Taylors' underwater interests grew to encompass scuba diving and underwater photography. Ron built the first of many underwater housings to take land cameras beneath the sea in 1953. When television came to Australia in 1956 he saw the potential for making underwater news stories and with the help of a friend, who lent him a Bell & Howell 16 mm movie camera, Ron built an acrylic housing for the camera and started selling underwater footage to television and to the cinema newsreel producer Movietone News. SignificanceThe collection of objects from the DUNBAR are extremely rare as they are associated with a specific event, vessel and a shipwreck associated with a large loss of life in close proximity to a major port and centre of population. The event had a devastating effect on Sydney at the time.