Kieran Hosty's Topic:
Topic 1:
Australia's HMB Endeavour
Unveiling the details and dramas on the discovery of the HMB Endeavour.
Kieran Hosty
Manager, Maritime Archaeology Program
Kieran Hosty started diving in Western Australia in 1976 and after a few years of mucking around on shipwrecks joined the Maritime Archaeological Association of Western Australia in order to try and make sense of what he saw on the seabed. His love of diving and history made him first pursue a graduate degree in history and anthropology from the Western Australian Institute of Technology followed a few years later by a post graduate diploma in maritime archaeology from Curtin University.
After 18 months as an archaeological field volunteer he joined the Maritime Archaeology Unit at the Victoria Archaeological Survey. He was Commonwealth Historic Shipwrecks Officer in Victoria for six years before coming to the Australian National Maritime Museum in 1994 to take up the position of Curator of Maritime Archaeology and Ship Technology.
In 2004 he took up a temporary position as Curator / Manager of Hyde Park Barracks Museum where he developed exhibitions on the history and archaeology of convict hulks before returning to the Australian National Maritime Museum in 2007 to become the Manager of the museum’s Maritime Archaeology Program and the nascent Maritime Archaeology Research Centre.
Holding commercial diving qualifications he has worked on many maritime archaeological projects both in Australia and overseas including the survey and excavation of the Clarence (1850), Sydney Cove (1797), and HMS Pandora (1791) and with the Silentworld Foundation HMCS Mermaid (1829) on the Great Barrier Reef and the pre-1830 Barangaroo Boat in Sydney Harbour. In 2022 along with his colleague Dr James Hunter he helped identify the wrecksite of Captain James Cook’s HMB Endeavour in the United States.
He is the author of several books including the Dunbar 1857: Disaster on our doorstep and assisted with the production and content of Wreck Seeker, an online game where players take on the roles of maritime archaeologists hunting for some of Australia’s most prized shipwrecks.
