Voyage Number
IN2025_T01
Voyage Dates
Voyage Location
Chief Scientist
Dr Ania Kotarba / Dr Andrew Viduka
Institution
University of Adelaide / Australian Government, Heritage Division (Underwater Cultural Heritage)
Voyage livestream
Follow our 8-day transit voyage from Brisbane to Hobart as we survey underwater cultural heritage along Australia's east coast.
Voyage summary
RV Investigator will undertake a transit voyage from Brisbane to Hobart to relocate the vessel in preparation for its next research voyage IN2026_V01.
The MNF seeks to maximise the benefit and use of sea time whenever the vessel is at sea, including for training and capability development opportunities. The transit will include up to 48 hours allocated for science operations which will focus on delivering two underwater cultural heritage (UCH) projects:
Project A: Submerged Indigenous palaeolandscapes and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction | Chief Scientist: Dr Ania Kotarba, University of Adelaide
Mapping the submerged palaeolandscapes and palaeochannels of the ancient Macleay River system (NSW) to identify areas of past human occupation, now submerged, and potentially collect marine sediment cores to reconstruct past environments and climate.
Project B: Australian underwater cultural heritage | Chief Scientist: Dr Andrew Viduka, Australian Government, Heritage Division
Survey of shipwrecks along Australia’s eastern seaboard to obtain new data and imagery of wreck sites, with primary targets being HMAS Australia (NSW), SS Wollongbar (NSW) and SS Nord (Tas).
These projects will assist the MNF in further developing operational frameworks for underwater cultural heritage surveys to enhance the scientific services it provides the research community while concurrently conducting real world research of significant value. In addition to codesign of the voyage research with partners and stakeholders, the research is designed to generate lasting benefits for Traditional Owners and continuing custodians of Sea Country, and the underwater cultural heritage and maritime community more broadly.
There are two other projects on the voyage:
- Globalising Marine Biodiversity Observations: autonomous genomic sampler system (Sahan Jayasinghe, CSIRO): Collecting environmental DNA (eDNA) from seawater.
- Automated seabird detection (Carlie Devine, CSIRO): Deployment of an automated seabird detector AI camera system called 'Jonathan'.
This voyage has 28 science participants from 12 institutions and groups, and 20 ship crew and one cadet from Cyan Renewables.
Voyage outcomes
Voyage outcomes will be published approximately 3-6 months after the completion of the voyage.