Art Exhibition Explores Australia’s Queer History
On the June 9, 1727 the Dutch ship Zeewijk would meet its final fate, becoming shipwrecked on reefs off the coast of Western Australia. The boat did not break up immediately, but the crew knew salvaging the wreck was an impossible task. Our tale here turns to two crew members-,whom in December of 1727 were no more than boys, boys who were found guilty of having committed sodomy together and whom were then sentenced to death and marooned, each on a separate island.This piece of nearly forgotten history is the subject matter dealt with head on by artist and academic Drew Pettifer in his latest exhibition A Sorrowful Act: The Wreck Of The Zeewijk.