What archaeological projects are you working on at the moment?
The Heritage Branch implements the NSW Maritime Archaeology Program. The work is extremely varied from implementing aspects of the Commonwealth Historic Shipwrecks Program, the Commonwealth Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976, and the NSW Heritage Act 1977 as it applies to Historic Shipwrecks and underwater cultural heritage sites in State waters. Much of our work is aimed at fostering best practice interaction with this heritage, and in promoting public involvement in site identification, documentation, interpretation and protection. The Heritage Branch maintains the NSW Historic Shipwrecks Database - a powerful resource tool, develops publications, runs introductory courses in Maritime Archaeology (under AIMA/NAS UK), and works closely with all client groups such as government, local councils, the dive industry, museums, historical societies and the public. Staff of the Maritime Archaeology Program also conduct their own fieldwork and publish the results widely.

In recent years we have undertaken significant inspections of key sites such as the 400-metre deep wreck of the Royal Australian Navy’s first Flagship, the battle cruiser HMAS Australia (1) (1910-1924) scuttled off Sydney Heads and searches for lost watercraft built by German internees in WW1 at Berrima. I am the Project Manager of the wreck of M24, the Japanese midget submarine lost in the 1942 attack on Sydney. Since its discovery by No Frills Divers in 2006 we have been active in surveying the internationally important site and documenting its story. A key element of this has been the release of an online web exhibition documenting all aspects of this work. Other key surveys have been undertaken at the convict shipwreck Hive (1835) in Wreck Bay, ongoing assessments of an armed wreck initially thought to be the Iron Knight torpedoed in 1943 near Narooma; research into historic WW2 aircraft crashed at sea; remains of wharves and jetties along the Parramatta River, and the ongoing inspection of 19th-20th Century wreck sites along the coastline.

External to the Heritage Branch, I am also the Director-Maritime Archaeology of the AE2 Commemorative Foundation Ltd which has been leading the survey of the historic Australian submarine AE2, lost near Gallipoli, Turkey, on 30 April 1915. This work has involved 5 trips to Turkey to date, with a return survey expedition in planning for 2012. This year will hopefully see a new survey I’m leading at ANZAC Cove, to undertake the first archaeological mapping of the significant underwater landscape related to the 1915 campaign.

Tell us about one of your most interesting archaeological discoveries.
In 2000 I led a search for a WW2 era Dutch (*ex-RAN) submarine, K-IX (1919-1945), on a beach south of Seal Rocks. The 70-metre vessel had washed ashore and became buried under mobile coastal beach sands. The site was detected using a magnetometer and is illustrative of the varied range of maritime archaeological site types in foreshore areas of NSW.

Tell us about a funny/disastrous/amazing experience that you have had while doing archaeology.
When working on the Sydney University ancient harbour excavations at Torone in Northern Greece, I was confronted, upon reaching the surface, by a Greek naval gun boat! The 50-calibre machine gun was trained on me and I had to swim out to the vessel. Apparently there was some local confusion over the validity of the Australian excavation permit, which was duly settled!

What’s your favourite part of being an archaeologist?
I think the real pleasure is being able to meet so many interesting people – from professionals in the area undertaking like work, to the range of interest groups such as the Defence industry, Water Police, government agency staff, divers, researchers, and the many community members who have such a passion for history and heritage sites. It is a pleasure to be able to assist people in the documentation of their heritage and to relive the amazing stories associated with each site.

Follow up reading:
Smith, T. 2009 ‘AE2: The Silent ANZAC. Australia’s lost Gallipoli submarine’, in Iron, Steel & Steamship Archaeology - Proceedings of 2nd Australian Seminar held in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney 2006. Edited by M. McCarthy. Special Publication 13, Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology. 2009. pp.139-142.

Smith, T. 2009 ‘Managing an Australian midget: the Imperial Japanese navy Type A Midget Submarine M24 at Sydney’. Bulletin of the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology vol. 32, 2009. pp.79-89.

Smith, T., et al. 2008 ‘Report of Operation Silent Anzac: Maritime Archaeological Assessment of HMAS AE2’. AE2 Commemorative Foundation Ltd.

Smith, T. 2007 Wreck of the Japanese Type A Midget Submarine M24: Preliminary Archaeological Survey Report. Heritage Office. NSW Government. December.

Smith, T. 2007 ‘K-IX Undersee Boot’, Proceedings of the 400 years Of Dutch Contact Seminar. Australian National Maritime Museum.

Smith, T. 2005 “Deep wreck technical diving: managing a partnership resource”. Bulletin of the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology.

Smith, T. 2004 ‘Plane Sailing: The archaeology of aircraft losses over water in New South Wales, Australia’. Bulletin of the Australian Institute for Maritime Archaeology. Vol.28.

Midget submarine web site www.m24maritime.heritage.nsw.gov.au

Maritime Heritage Online web site www.maritime.heritage.nsw.gov.au

Heritage Branch web site www.heritage.nsw.gov.au