Shared histories, different stories: First Nations encounters with VOC ships

Presented by Dr Corioli Souter and Susan Calyun, this project explores the important role of Indigenous knowledge and oral histories in deepening our understanding of shipwrecks and early cross-cultural encounters in pre-colonial Australia.

In 1927, local Aboriginal residents Ada and Ernest Drage, Lurleen Pepper, Charlie Mallard and Tom Pepper discovered wreckage from the Dutch East India Company (VOC) vessel Zuytdorp, north of the mouth of the Murchison River. Their stories, together with other Indigenous oral histories, offer valuable perspectives on these shipwreck sites and their histories that have often been overlooked.

Through targeted meetings and workshops in Geraldton, Carnarvon and Perth, the project works closely with Traditional Owners from the Nanda community to identify knowledge holders and document stories relating to Aboriginal-VOC contact. This includes knowledge of VOC shipwreck material, ship sightings and early encounters along the Western Australian coast.

The project also collaborates with Indigenous artists from Australia and internationally to explore different interpretations of shared histories. Drawing on VOC shipwreck collections held in the Netherlands and Fremantle, this work culminated in the exhibition First Encounters: Artist Interventions with the VOC Shipwrecks.

Funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the research forms part of the international project Mobilising Dutch East India Company Collections for New Global Stories. The initiative connects Australian collections with the VOC’s wider global network and brings together leading cultural institutions, including the Rijksmuseum in the Netherlands, the British Museum in the UK, the Vasa Museum in Sweden and Iziko Museums of South Africa.