Auslan tour - HMS Sirius anchorAuslan tour - HMS Sirius anchor 

In January 1788, the Gadigal people of the Eora nation witnessed the arrival of the First Fleet at Warrane, which the British named Sydney Cove.

The First Fleet was made up of 11 ships and carried convicts from Britian to Australia.

Convicts were prisoners who were transported for minor crimes, such as stealing. Convicts were often poor and lived in industrial cities. Their circumstances forced them to commit these crimes in order to survive.

This anchor is from the flagship of the First Fleet, the HMS Sirius. A flagship is the lead ship in a fleet.

By February 1790, there was a critical shortage of supplies in the colony. To avoid disaster, Governor Philip dispatched the HMS Sirius and HMS Supply to Norfolk Island. Sadly, on 19 March 1790, HMS Sirius was wrecked on a reef off the coast of Norfolk Island.

200 years later, maritime archaeologists recovered the wreck. Museum conservators used hammers, chisels and descaling guns to remove the thick layer of marine concretion. Concretion is a stone-like encrusted clump which forms around an object (usually an iron object). Concretion is created by natural elements, such as seawater. The anchor was then treated with electrolysis and painted with an anticorrosive coating. Electrolysis is an electrochemical process that removes chlorides (salts) and converts corroded iron back into solid metal.

The Sirius Anchor is on loan from the Norfolk Island Museum and the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts.

Museum objects tell many stories and help us think about different perspectives. What might the Sirius anchor represent for different groups? Think about the perspective of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, maritime archaeologists or First Fleet descendants.