28 June 2013
An historic metal plate that is one of Australia’s oldest records of European contact has been analysed at the Australian Synchrotron.
In May 2013, the 35-centimetre pewter ‘de Vlamingh plate’ was removed from its argon-filled, bullet-proof display case in Fremantle, WA, strapped into its own personal economy-class airline seat, and brought to the Synchrotron for x-ray analysis. West Australian and Victorian experts in the preservation of historic metal artefacts say the x-ray analysis is essential to ensure that the 35-centimetre plate can be preserved for future generations.
The de Vlamingh plate, image courtesy of WA Museum