The Dutch ship "Batavia" was wrecked off the West Australian coast in 1629 and fewer
than
80 of the passengers and crew survived. Articles recovered from the ship are in the
West
Australian Museum and include two wooden lace bobbins. The bobbins and a corroded
pair of
scissors were featured on an Australia Post 90c. stamp issued in 1985. The replica
ship
of the Batavia was in Sydney in 2002 and many of the members of the NSW Branch of The
Australian Lace Guild demonstrated lace making on board to the visitors. One of the
local
Kurri Kurri group has copies of the bobbins made by some enterprising bobbin turner. A
friend in my woodturning club gave me a piece of wood from the Batavia wreck. It is
hard,
heavy, dark red and cranky grained and one day I will make a copy of the bobbins from
it.
If anyone wants a look at the bobbins on thestamp I can scan them and send the
scan to them.
Neil Keats in Newcastle, Australia at the mouth of the Hunter River, the home of the
fabulous Hunter Shiraz and Semillon wines.
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