Getting Around the Maritime World - Indian Ocean Watercraft

Australia’s First Peoples arrived in Australia at least 50,000 years BPE. Although the sea levels at that time were much lower than they are now, people still had to cross some significant bodies of water - which begs the question ‘How did they do it?’. The answer may lie in the watercraft displayed here. Although these craft are comparatively small, building them, with the most basic of tools, was not an easy matter. Suitable timber or, in some cases, the bark of trees, had to be located, gathered, then cut and molded into form. In the case of the dugout canoe the core of the tree could be burned out. If the pith of the tree chosen was very soft, it could be cut out with an axe, and the interior prepared for its occupants. You cannot help but notice on this dugout that the builder has made the vessel more seaworthy by raising the freeboard by attaching bulwarks. The other craft, which is representative of many made in the south seas, is the outrigger canoe. Maintaining one’s balance in a craft as small as a canoe takes a lot of skill and practice. To overcome the problem of capsizing builders in times gone past balanced their craft with outriggers, a device still seen in modern trimarans. Sadly, watercraft such as those shown here are now very rare. They have been replaced by a comparatively inexpensive, mass-produced product vessel- the ‘tinnie’.

Dugout canoe on the strand line, Jacob’s Beach, Kimberley.
Credit: Crawford collection - West Kimberley images 1961-1993