Delivery Time? About 100 Years or So.

James Matthews departed London for Fremantle on 28 March 1841 on a speculative voyage with goods to be sold in the Colony of Western Australia. Much of the cargo consisted of construction and farming goods. Among other things on board were 7,000 roofing slates. One of the ship’s passengers, Henry de Burgh, was the owner of much of the cargo. His diary described the fate of James Matthews.

The vessel arrived safely in the port of Fremantle however, during a squall on 23 July 1841, the vessel parted its cable and was blown onto rocks at Woodman Point where the ship became a total loss. While much of De Burgh’s cargo was salvaged, a significant amount remained in the wreck. In 1973 the wreck was discovered by the Underwater Explorers Club. The wreck was surveyed by the WA Museum’s archaeologists and artefacts from the site were removed for conservation and to protect them from looters. One of the questions which people have about the materials which are taken from archaeological sites is ‘what happens to the artefacts after they have been conserved?’. Well, in the case of the roof slates, it was a matter of a 130-year stasis in their delivery, as the bulk of them were donated to the National Trust of Western Australia as authentic materials for repairing the roof of the farmhouse built in 1836 at Strawberry Hill, Albany.