Maritime Archaeology Association Victoria

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Maritime Archaeology Association Victoria The MAAV is a Melbourne based, volunteer led group, that researches historical marine archaeological sites of Victoria.

The Assosciation also provides AIMA -Nas Courses Part One and Two The MAAV is a Melbourne based, volunteer led group, that researches on the historical marine archaeological sites of Victoria.

ONLINE HERITAGE SYMPOSIUM | How Concepts of Identity Shape Heritage PracticeWe’re pleased to share an upcoming free onli...
05/10/2026

ONLINE HERITAGE SYMPOSIUM | How Concepts of Identity Shape Heritage Practice

We’re pleased to share an upcoming free online symposium that may be of interest to MAAV members and the wider heritage community.

How Concepts of Identity Shape Heritage Practice will explore how identity, at personal, community and national levels, influences the heritage we recognise and how we value, protect, promote, challenge or sometimes ignore it.

Presented by AusHeritage in partnership with Artlab Australia, the symposium brings together heritage practitioners and researchers to examine the relationship between identity and heritage practice.

📅 Thursday, 8 October 2026
🕒 3:00–5:00 pm AEDT
💻 Online
🎟️ Free

Professor Keir Reeves OAM, Director of Federation University Australia’s Future Regions Research Centre, is among the speakers taking part in the symposium.

For the full program, speaker details and free registration, visit:

https://events.humanitix.com/ausheritage-symposium-how-concepts-of-identity-shape-heritage-practice

Thanks to Keir Reeves for bringing this event to our attention.

Reminder to the membership,Our October meeting is Tonight 8pm at the Port Ed centre. Tonight’s talk by Malcolm Venturon...
04/10/2026

Reminder to the membership,
Our October meeting is Tonight 8pm at the Port Ed centre.
Tonight’s talk by Malcolm Venturoni about the use of different remote sensing equipment searching for shipwrecks.

Address: 339-343 Lorimer St, Port Melbourne, VIC, 3207

Look forward to seeing you there.
Visitors welcome.

⚓ Sometimes a shipwreck disappears.And sometimes, more than a century later, the sea and sand give it back.In January 18...
16/09/2026

⚓ Sometimes a shipwreck disappears.

And sometimes, more than a century later, the sea and sand give it back.

In January 1856, the two masted wooden schooner Nautilus left Melbourne bound for Western Port to collect a cargo of stone.

She never made it.

Strong south westerly winds and heavy seas drove Nautilus past the entrance to Western Port and onto Morgan’s Beach, near Cape Liptrap.

Four members of her crew then trekked overland for three days to Port Albert seeking help.

Their arrival raised a few eyebrows.

Locals initially suspected the bedraggled strangers might be escaped convicts from Van Diemen’s Land. Fortunately, the sailors carried a letter from their captain confirming their story and asking for assistance.

Nautilus remained visible on the beach for a time.

Then the sand took her.

Storms exposed what newspapers called an “ancient wreck” near Morgan Creek in 1901, before the shifting dunes swallowed the wreck again.

For decades, Nautilus remained hidden.

Then, in 2015, the sand shifted again.

The wreck emerged on Morgan’s Beach. Maritime archaeologists recorded and measured the exposed remains, which matched the dimensions expected for Nautilus.

Within days, the sand had buried her again.

Today, Nautilus waits beneath the sand for the right combination of storms, tides and shifting beach to reveal her once more.

🌊 This is maritime archaeology.

At MAAV, we dive. We research. We survey. We search historical records and charts. We investigate Victoria’s coastline and waters for traces of our maritime past.

And when we find those traces, we work to record and understand them so their stories don’t disappear with the shifting sand.

Over the coming months, we’ll take you with us.

We’ll share our fieldwork, research and projects. We’ll open our archives and revisit some remarkable discoveries. And we’ll tell you the stories of the ships, people and events that shaped Victoria’s maritime history.

Some of those stories sit in libraries and archives.

Some lie beneath Victoria’s waters.

And some are quite literally under our feet.

⚓ Welcome to the Maritime Archaeology Association of Victoria.

📷 Nautilus exposed at Morgan’s Beach, 2015. Photo: Peter Harvey.
📖 Research: Mal Venturoni, MAAV.

One of the MAAV 's ongoing Projects is the HMVS Cerberus which was sunk as a breakwater at Half Moon Bay 100 years ago .
08/09/2026

One of the MAAV 's ongoing Projects is the HMVS Cerberus which was sunk as a breakwater at Half Moon Bay 100 years ago .

A Lovely Model of the "TSS Coramba" made by MAAV member Martin Tozer .The tireless work of MAAV members led to the disc...
07/09/2026

A Lovely Model of the "TSS Coramba" made by MAAV member Martin Tozer .The tireless work of MAAV members led to the discovery of the Coramba in 2011. The ship was lost with all hands in 1934 off Cape Schank Victoria Australia

Des Williams & Peter Taylor Preparing the AUV for a scan on Port Phillip
07/09/2026

Des Williams & Peter Taylor Preparing the AUV for a scan on Port Phillip

Address

Lorimer Street, Fishermens Bend
Melbourne, VIC
343-383

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