From Battleship to Breakwater: post‐military adaptive reuse of the Australian warship Protector

Abstract

The light cruiser Protector, built 1884, served as an Australian naval asset for 40 years. Decommissioned from the Royal Australian Navy in 1924, it was subsequently converted into a lighter. The vessel re‐entered military service during the Second World War, but was involved in a collision, condemned, and ultimately installed as a breakwater on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. While much of Protector's military career is well documented, little is known of its conversion and adaptation to civilian roles. What follows is a discussion of efforts to archaeologically document Protector's surviving hull and identify signatures of adaptive reuse indicative of its post‐military career.

El crucero ligero Protector, construido en 1884, sirvió como activo naval australiano durante 40 años. Tras su retiro del servicio de la Armada Real Australiana en 1924, fue convertido en barcaza. La nave reingresó al servicio militar durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial hasta que sufrió una colisión, fue condenada y finalmente instalada como rompeolas en la Gran Barrera de Coral Australiana. Aunque gran parte de la carrera militar del Protector está bien documentada, poco se sabe acerca de su conversión y adaptación para desempeñar papeles civiles. En el artículo se discuten los esfuerzos por documentar arqueológicamente la porción superviviente del casco del Protector y las huellas de su reutilización adaptativa para la carrera post‐militar.

Key words:

• Protector, Australia
• navy
• warship
• maritime archaeology
• vessel reuse

Acknowledgements

Many thanks are due to our colleagues in the survey and research teams: Prof. Anton van den Hengel, Daniel Pooley, John Bastian, Kevin Jones, Dr Ian MacLeod and Ed Slaughter. Heron Island Research Station shared archival photographs of Protector and provided logistical support during the survey. Paddy Waterson provided imagery from visual inspections of Protector, and assisted with archaeological permits. Lindl Lawton and Adam Paterson shared information about Protector exhibitions at the South Australian Maritime Museum. This project was supported by an Australian Research Council Linkage Award (LP130101064), the Commonwealth of Australia's Your Community Heritage Program, and the Silentworld Foundation.