Page 20 - Green - Maritime Archaeology: A Technical Handbook. 2nd ed

Acknowledgments xix
ment of Archaeology at the University of Western Australia, scheduled to start in 2005. Working with a wide range of students over the past 20 years has, again, been an intellectually stimulating process; it is always thought provoking to work with students fresh to the subject.
In 1982, I was part of a process that established the Australian Institute for Maritime Archaeology (AIMA, now Australasian rather than Australian), as foundation president. AIMA took on a wide range of responsibilities, particularly in supporting maritime archaeology in Aus- tralia. Numerous AIMA colleagues have helped me at various times: Bill Jeffery, Paul Clark, Terry Arnott, Mike Nash, Peter Gesner, Peter Harvey, Ross Anderson, David Nutley, and Tim Smith.
My greatest debt of gratitude lies with the numerous staff members with whom I have worked since 1971 as Head of the Department of Maritime Archaeology at the Western Australian Maritime Museum. In particular, I want to pay tribute to my colleagues Myra Stanbury, Mike McCarthy, Corioli Souter, Geoff Kimpton, Patrick Baker, Stuart Sevastos, Richenda Prall, Jennifer Rodrigues, and Matthew Gainsford for their outstanding pro- fessionalism and, in particular, Susan Cox, our tireless departmental secre- tary. Staff that have now left and moved on to other areas include: Scott Sledge, Colin Powell, Bob Richards, Brian Richards, Fairlie Sawday, Rose- mary Harper, Paul Hundley, Catherina Ingleman-Sundberg, Lous Zuider- baan, Warren Robinson, Tom Vosmer, and the late Jim Stewart. I have also benefited from the help and assistance of the Staff of the Department of Material Conservation and Restoration, Ian MacLeod, Ian Godfry, Vicki Richards, and Jon Carpenter. The success of my Department is a direct result of the enthusiasm and dedication of the staff working in it, together with the support of the Museum in general.
The public arm of maritime archaeology has been essential in establish- ing maritime archaeology in Australia. In 1963 a group of public-spirited Western Australians citizens, who had found important and significant 17th century Dutch East India Company shipwrecks, transferred their rights to the State Government on the condition that the government take respon- sibility for their protection; subsequently, the State Government enacted The Museum Act 1963 (the first international underwater cultural heritage legislation). As a result of all this, I am here writing this second edition, I have a department that has to be second to none (in my eyes), and Australia through a series of acts, now has one of the best examples of underwater cultural heritage legislation and public acceptance of the concept of protecting underwater cultural heritage in the world. All of this was a result of public concern. Graeme Henderson, from the Western Australian Museum was the founding chair of the UNESCO Convention on Underwater Cultural Heritage, reaffirming the seminal position