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25.01.2022 This should be interesting!

23.01.2022 Getting more than a little excited about this

22.01.2022 The size of the ships boat is interesting!

20.01.2022 Seabird Coastcare Forum (10th May 2019). A 45 minute presentation on Gilt Dragon history and the importance of protecting the Gilt Dragon Coastline. Register with the Seabird Progress Association to if you woud like to attend. Contact details below.

19.01.2022 I came across this map a few months ago... What do you think of the accuracy of the waypoints??

18.01.2022 Latest book related to the hunt for Gilt Dragon Survivors (by Bob Sheppard). Not a bad read. And surprisingly complimentary of my own efforts. If you are interested in the search for Gilt Dragon survivors this book will be a solid addition to your bookshelf. Book can be purchased online via Hesperian Press: http://www.hesperianpress.com

16.01.2022 On April 28th 1656, 363 years ago today, 118 Dutch sailors lost their lives as the Vergulde Draeck wrecked off Ledge Point just north of Perth. The Vergulde Dra...eck (Far-hool-de-drak) or the "Gilt Dragon". Australia's third oldest known shipwreck and one of the four VOC, Dutch East India Company's merchant ships known to have wrecked on the West Australian coastline in the 17th and 18th century. Discovered by Graeme Henderson in 1963 while spearfishing off Ledge Point. The Vergulde Draeck is one of the most significant wrecks with regard to the early history of the Perth coastline and also one of its greatest mysteries. Before dawn on 28th April 1656 the ship carrying 78,600 guilders in silver, hit the shallow reef 3 nautical miles from shore. Of the 193 on board only 75 survivours made it to land in the ship's boats with very little salvaged from the wreck that is believed to have quickly broken apart. It is thought they assembled at one of the bluffs some 5 kilometres north of the town of Seabird. 7 sailors were sent by the ship's smallest boat over 3000 kilometres to raise the alarm in Batavia and immediately two VOC ships were sent to rescue the survivours. Aside from wreckage of the lost ship, of the 68 souls left ashore, no trace was ever found. They had vanished. The VOC sent further vessels to investigate the coast and search for the missing Dutchmen resulting in the first charts drawn of the Perth coastline. For the first time in history Europeans walked the Perth coast over a century before Captain Cook landed in Botany Bay. In 1658, Rottnest Island was first charted and the first european, a sailor named Abraham Leeman (the man the town of Leeman near Dongara is named after) landed on the island to restock on timber for the Waeckende Boey that was searching the coast to the north. Meanwhile, the Emeloort searched further south and landed sailors in the Geographe Bay area. William De Vlamingh on his Voyage to Discovery in 1696/97 sailed to the Perth coast turning northwards. Part of his orders were to investigate for signs of the long lost Vergulde Draeck. This voyage and search resulted in the naming of Rottnest Island and the discovery of the Swan River. They also found wreckage believed to be from the Vergulde Draeck in the area of Cottesloe beach, very far south of the actual wreck site. Slowly the mystery began to give up its secrets, in 1931 two young Edwards boys found silver coins (guilders) half buried in a sand drift north of the Moore River, leading to the naming of the town, Guilderton in 1951. Some days later, remains of a skeleton and a hinged box were found near Eagles Nest Bluff. In the following decades, stories of artefacts slowly began to show themselves on the coastline adjacent to the wreck, slowly giving clues to the location of the wreck site. Until the day in 1963 when a 16 year old Graeme Henderson drifted over a reef looking down at a sea floor scattered with elephant tusks, yellow bricks and cannons. Still to this day there is no definitive answer as to what happened to those 79 Dutchmen from the Vergulde Draeck and a search party from the vessel Goode Hoope, all lost without a trace on the coast north of Perth in 1656...

11.01.2022 This is what happens when a want to be GD expert tries to be a 4wd expert & goes out into the dunes without 4wd recovery gear.... hopelessly bogged. I was recovered by a local (thanks Brenton!) & have decided I probably need to reconsider my super casual approach to rookie tracks... Found some aluminium cans, aluminium foil, modern iron nails & cast off sunglasses.. copped three tick bites, a splinter, some sunburn & a lesson learned. What an eventful day.... The scenery never fails to impress!

08.01.2022 All comments welcome!

07.01.2022 For those interested in Gold & Silver ....

04.01.2022 Very well written article

02.01.2022 Edwards coin find (1931)

02.01.2022 A couple of WA boys doing it right....