Patrick Morrison is an Australian maritime archaeologist at the Western Australian Museum. His work includes underwater photogrammetry, submerged cultural landscapes and historic shipwreck recording.[1][2][3]
Career
editMorrison's doctoral research examined human responses to past climate shifts and sea-level rise in Murujuga, north-western Australia, with a focus on submerged landscapes archaeology and 3D photogrammetry for cultural heritage.[2][1][3] He has coordinated the UWA unit ARCY3012: 500 Years of Historical, Maritime and Industrial Archaeology.[2]
Morrison was a co-author of a 2020 paper in PLOS ONE that reported Australia's first confirmed ancient underwater archaeological sites on the continental shelf. The sites were located off the Murujuga coastline in north-western Australia.[4]
Morrison has recorded historic wreck sites for the Western Australian Museum using 3D photogrammetry, including Trial (1622), Batavia (1629) and Zeewijk (1727).[1][3] In 2021, Morrison recorded the Trial wreck site during filming for the first season of the Disney+ documentary series Shipwreck Hunters Australia.[5][6]
In 2023, Morrison, Jess Green and Ian McCann located a previously unrecorded wreck in the Swan River near Point Walter after analysing government-released 3D riverbed mapping data and conducting follow-up dives.[7] In 2024, the wreck was identified as an 1882 limestone cargo barge and was described by ABC News and the Western Australian Museum as the earliest known shipwreck in the Swan River.[8][9] In 2025, Morrison, Andrew Oakeley and David Jackson co-discovered the wreck of HNLMS K XI, a Dutch submarine lying off Wadjemup / Rottnest Island.[10] The Western Australian Museum report on the site identified the submarine as a protected historic shipwreck and a record of Second World War cooperation between Australia and the Netherlands.[10]
References
edit- 1 2 3 "Patrick Morrison". Western Australian Museum. Retrieved 6 June 2026.
- 1 2 3 "Patrick Morrison". University of Western Australia Research Repository. Retrieved 6 June 2026.
- 1 2 3 "Past Recipients". Royal Society of Western Australia. Retrieved 6 June 2026.
- ↑ Benjamin, Jonathan; et al. (2020). "Aboriginal artefacts on the continental shelf reveal ancient drowned cultural landscapes in northwest Australia". PLOS ONE. 15 (7): e0233912. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0233912.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: article number as page number (link) - ↑ "Trial (1622) wreck site, 2021". Sketchfab. Western Australian Museum. 18 May 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2026.
- ↑ "Shipwreck Hunters Australia". Western Australian Museum. Retrieved 6 June 2026.
- ↑ Wynne, Emma (2 September 2023). "3D maps of Swan River lead maritime archaeologists to unexplored wreck in Perth". ABC News. Retrieved 6 June 2026.
- ↑ Leaver, Kate (21 August 2024). "Earliest known shipwreck uncovered in Perth's Swan River identified". ABC News. Retrieved 6 June 2026.
- ↑ "Earliest known wreck in Swan River". Western Australian Museum. 21 August 2024. Retrieved 6 June 2026.
- 1 2 Morrison, Patrick; Jackson, David; Oakeley, Andrew; Philpin, Aurora; Manders, Martijn; Anderson, Ross (2025). Dutch K XI Submarine (1925–1946) discovered off Wadjemup Rottnest Island, Perth (Report). Western Australian Museum. Retrieved 6 June 2026.