An article has appeared in the Sunday Age, a reputable Australian
newspaper, on the sale of porcelain by an Australian company from the
1822 wreck of the Tek Sing in Indonesian waters. The tone of the article
is all boys own adventure and stresses the potential $A100 million to be
made from the sale. The article can be read at
http://theage.com.au/entertainment/20001105/A25576-2000Nov3.html
and letters may be sent to the editor at [log in to unmask]
Below is the text of the letter of protest I have written. Please feel
free to post this to any other discussion group which may be interested
>
> I am extremely disappointed that a serious newspaper with the reputation
> of The Age should have published such an article as "Treasures of a last
> frontier" 5/11/2000. To describe the looting of a historic shipwreck for
> personal profit as 'underwater archaeology' is a gross slur on the
> profession of archaeolgy. The code of ethics for the Australian
> Institute of Professional Archaeologists specifically forbids the taking
> of artefacts for sale for personal profit and rightly so. The entire
> tone of the article was such as to encourage looting of sites and at no
> stage in the article was there any mention that such actions are illegal
> in most countries around the world and the trade in items taken from
> such sites is also illegal. Perhaps the managing director of Ocean
> Salvage Corporation should ask himself why he can no longer shoot
> rhinosceroses, lions and tigers anymore and will the grave robbers and
> looters take historic shipwrecks to the point of extinction also.
> John Hyett
>