Western Australian Shipwreck Archaeological Records

Western Australian Museum's Maritime Archaeology database documents over 1650 shipwrecks, including notable vessels like the Batavia and Zuytdorp. The beta dataset is maintained by Jeremy Green and was last updated in March 2026, testing a live sync from the museum's internal systems.

Use Cases

• Map shipwreck locations and analyze spatial distribution using the provided geographic data formats like SHP and GEOJSON.
• Conduct historical research on specific vessel records, such as the Batavia or SS Xantho, detailed within the database.
• Integrate wreck site data via the API ARCGIS SERVER MAP SERVICE for maritime heritage visualization applications.

Strengths

• Contains records for over 1650 individual shipwrecks from Western Australia.
• Managed by the authoritative Western Australian Museum, an institutional source for maritime archaeology.
• Offers multiple geographic data formats including WFS, WMS, SHP, and GEOJSON for flexibility.

Limitations

• Described as a beta version for testing live sync and explicitly marked 'not for use in planning', indicating potential instability.
• Column schema and sample data are unavailable, complicating preliminary analysis of specific attributes.
• The exact temporal coverage and record-level detail for each of the 1650+ wrecks are unspecified.

Provenance

Source

Western Australian Museum

Collection Method

Records compiled and maintained by the museum's Maritime Archaeology program.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated March 2026.

Geography

Western Australia