Ruins of Two Stone Huts

Statement of Significance

These huts are historically of major national importance, for at least one of them is believed to be the oldest European structure in Australia, quite apart from its significance as a relic of the Batavia shipwreck. Although the huts are situated on an A Class Reserve for Fauna and Flora, there is no restriction on access to the area, and the structures themselves are not reserved or otherwise protected. It is recommended that they be classified by the National Trust as soon as possible.

Physical Description

The first (dated) hut measures 3 by 8 metres, and it was partitioned into two rooms by an internal wall. The other is 4 by 5 metres and consisted of a single room. The walls of both structures are built of stacked limestone slabs, and are surprisingly well preserved .

History

Assessment 1980 Construction: one, possibly both in 1629, both noted in 1879 The ruins of two small stone huts are situated near Slaughter Point on West Wallabi Island, beside several natural fresh-water wells. Archaeological evidence (arti­ facts, including fragments of Bellarmine jugs) from excavations at the site of one of these huts shows that it was constructed by survivors of the Dutch East Indiaman Batavia, which was wrecked on Morning Reef, 9 km to the east-southeast, on 4 June 1629. The hut is therefore 350 years old, and is the earliest structure known to have been built by Europeans on the Australian continent . The age of the second hut has not been definitely established, but as both huts are of similar construction, and are only half a kilometre apart, it is probable that this other hut was also built by Batavia survivors. However, it was apparently re-occupied by guano diggers during the early 1900s (Bevaqua, 1974). These structures must be the two ruined stone huts recorded by John Forrest during his visit to West Wallabi Island in 1879. .A. group of 47 Batavia survivors, led by Webbe Hayes 1 lived in the area of these two huts for about three months during 1629. They successfully defended themselves against attacks from the mutineers led by Jeronimus Cornelisz who had murdered 125 of the survivors on Batavia's Graveyard Island (now Beacon Island). Webbe Hayes' group managed to warn Commandeur Pelsart when he returned from Java with a rescuing vessel, so that he was able to apprehend the mutineers.f

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