Thanks nickcarraway.
Posted on 11/17/2021 10:37:42 AM PST by nickcarraway
Maddy McAllister had her first taste of scuba diving at 15 and has loved it ever since.(Supplied) Help keep family & friends informed by sharing this article
Maddy McAllister spent her childhood in south-east Western Australia listening to her grandfather's tales of ships lost at sea.
Now Dr McAllister has turned her love of fishermen's tales into a career.
As the senior curator of maritime archaeology at the Museum of Tropical Queensland, she spends her days overseeing about 8,000 artefacts recovered from 28 shipwrecks along the Queensland coastline.
"I would spend my summer holidays snorkelling and exploring anything underwater I could," Dr McAllister said.
"And then I found out you could add history to working underwater."
Dr McAllister got her first taste of diving at 15 when her father gave her a scuba course for Christmas.
She then started volunteering at a museum and realised she could study shipwrecks as a career.
"I then jumped straight into a Bachelor of Archaeology, followed by a Master of Maritime Archaeology, then I worked for a couple of years before doing my PhD," she said.
From silver coins to Scotch whisky Having worked in Melbourne and Adelaide, Dr McAllister has discovered some unusual artefacts in her time.
"I've found wonderful things from glass bottles, to leather shoes.
"I've even been lucky enough to work at a site that had Spanish coins on it."
But what Dr McAllister loved most about that site, she said, was the ship itself.
"Sometime you can work on a ship that might have sunk 200 years ago, and when you uncover some of that hull, the planking looks like it sank yesterday," she said.
"I really am fascinated about how we built and constructed wooden ships a long time ago.
"We've lost a lot of that knowledge."
While the museum houses treasures from 28 shipwrecks, it hopes to be able to add to its collection as more artefacts and wrecks are discovered.
"We're getting better and better at it," Dr McAllister said.
"Technology means boats are out there mapping the sea floor at a higher resolution than ever before."
Dr McAllister also said discoveries had been made by people using Google Earth.
"You wouldn't believe the amount of people who have come across a shadow," she said.
"We often do an initial survey and a sweep that involves photography and mapping some features and you get a basic plan of the site."
Then, once a wreck was confirmed, a decision had to be made about whether or not to bring artefacts up to the surface, or to leave them where they lay.
"All shipwrecks in Queensland over 75 years old are protected whether we know about them or not," she said.
Items fond on a ship, covered in residual from being underwater
Dr McAllister said the underwater sites degraded until they reached a particular point beyond which they would remain preserved without deteriorating further.
"Once you shift them and interfere with them, you kind of break that," she said.
"There's a chance it could survive far better where it is."
STEM sees tides of change
Dr McAllister is one of just 20 maritime archaeologists working professionally in Australia in academic positions, government roles or in commercial jobs.
As a woman working in a STEM field, she said she had started to see things changing, especially for her generation and girls coming through the education system now.
A close of up a old vase, found on a shipwreck
Australian Academy of Science chief executive Anna-Maria Arabia agreed that attitudes were changing in the male-dominated sector, but said there was still room for improvement.
"[We need to] remove the artificial barriers that say it's too hard [for girls] or the barrier that says, 'Where's science going to get you anyway?'," she said.
Ms Arabia says there was an increasing number of jobs that required STEM skills.
"You don't just do STEM because you want to do research," she said.
"We need to get better at showing women and girls those role models, and giving those women and girls a platform to become more visible.
"You can't be what you can't see."
Ping
Lol. The author had to turn to “girls can do the same things boys do” in the article. No one cares about that.
They are reaching with the STEM and girl-power angle. Surprised they didn’t quote “Doctor” Jill.
I quit reading after “Southeast Western Australia”, you know, adjacent to West Southeastern Australia.
Thanks nickcarraway.
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