South Australian: VR Diving Experience

The wreck of the South Australian lies barely submerged under the sea at Encounter Bay in southern Australia. The once magnificent English skiff criss-crossed the seas of the British colony in South Australia in the early 19th century. Its voyages and its end in a terrible storm are part of the cultural heritage that was to be passed on in cooperation with the Australian National Maritime Museum. The aim was to provide an authentic and exciting experience that at the same time conveys historically founded knowledge to interested museum visitors.

Directed by Prof. Holger Deuter and in cooperation with Dr. James Hunter and the Australian National Maritime Museum, students on the Virtual Design study course at Kaiserslautern University developed a digital museum experience. It is a virtual dive expedition that makes the wreck accessible, true to history and reality despite the few original records and remains. It recounts the events surrounding its sinking in an innovative and approachable manner.

The experience provides information in four sections about archaeological facts, the history of the South Australian and its current condition. To start off, visitors receive initial information about the wreck and its discovery on board the research boat Maggie III. The tragic sinking of the ship is recounted as a graphic novel. This is followed by an authentic dive on which the visitors themselves go on an archaeological journey of discovery and can bring up fragments of the wreck and various artefacts from past times. It is rounded off by surfacing to the still unscathed historical South Australian.