The knowledge and skills developed while undertaking this project include sail making, spinning, lace-making, rigging, ropework, weaving, embroidery and even linen production involving growing and spinning flax fibres. Investigating centuries old techniques,
both 'hands-on' and historic, extends from the history of trade and the trade of objects, to the epic tales of seafarers, under the trade-marks of the Dutch East India Trading Company. The shipwreck of the Batavia in Western Australia in 1629 represents an extraordinary tale of marooned Europeans, of murder and intrigue in the 17th century, as well as many firsts in Australian history, for example, first settlement, first European dwellings constructed, first written record of kangaroos and, arguably, the first recorded land battle. While this Batavia Tapestry may be read as an accurate historical narrative, in the narrative tradition of the Bayeux Tapestry, it offers more than this in symbolizing the wider violence of the other side of the Australian frontier - the suffering and inhuman treatment of native peoples, as well as the bravery and victories of Aboriginal resistance to invasion and exile during the inglorious early years of the 'first settlement'.
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