The Boustead Jar
Google Earth image of Shoal Bay north-east of Darwin where Billy Boustead found the jar
The Bousteads have lived at Shoal Bay for many years - active in the aquaculture & tourism industries but it was during his years as a crabber that the tidal range and shallow waters afforded Billy the opportunity to spend countless hours walking the inter-tidal zone. In 1998 he found the jar partly exposed on a Chenier ridge behind the fringing mangroves of a tidal creek.
The Darwin Museum (MAGNT) Curator of SE Asian Art at the time, after much consultation, concluded that it was of Spanish or Portuguese origin.
The Darwin Museum (MAGNT) Curator of SE Asian Art at the time, after much consultation, concluded that it was of Spanish or Portuguese origin.
The bay where Billy Boustead found the jar - image taken during 2015 Expedition.
THE BOUSTEAD JAR: A POSSIBLE PORTUGUESE CONNECTION TO NORTH AUSTRALIA (NT News Colin De La Rue)
Billy Boustead & Jar
In May 1998, an earthenware jar, now known as the Boustead Jar, was found at Shoal Bay, near Darwin, by a member of a local fishing family, Mr. Bill Boustead. It was discovered partly exposed on a sand ridge beach behind a fringing mangrove copse on the southern shore of Shoal Bay. The jar was taken to the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in Darwin for identification.
Although no positive identification was made, it was the option of the then Curator of Southeast Asian Art, after consultation with colleagues in both Indonesia and Australia, that the jar is most likely from southern Europe, probably of Spanish or Portuguese origin. The jar was subsequently returned to the owners.
In 2003 the jar was dated using thermos-luminescence at the University of Wollongong’s School of Geoscience. This produced a date of 490 (+/- 80) years BP. In the comments in the report it is stated. “In this case this result is thought to be better than the quoted +/ - 25% accuracy”.
Although no positive identification was made, it was the option of the then Curator of Southeast Asian Art, after consultation with colleagues in both Indonesia and Australia, that the jar is most likely from southern Europe, probably of Spanish or Portuguese origin. The jar was subsequently returned to the owners.
In 2003 the jar was dated using thermos-luminescence at the University of Wollongong’s School of Geoscience. This produced a date of 490 (+/- 80) years BP. In the comments in the report it is stated. “In this case this result is thought to be better than the quoted +/ - 25% accuracy”.
In July 2006 Jonathon Ostara, manager of Indo Pacific Marine
in Darwin brought the jar to the attention of researchers at Charles Darwin University
(CDU). The Boustead family was contacted and, with their permission, a preliminary report
on the jar’s finding was presented at the combined AIMA/ASHA Conference held in Darwin in
September 2006. Both Bill and his son David attended the conference presentation to help
establish the provenance of the find and answer questions from delegates.
The presentation looked at the circumstances of the find, as well as environmental conditions that may have supported both the preservation of the jar and its recent discovery. It also considered ways the jar may have made its way to the find spot. Recent archaeological studies undertaken at CDU by Dr Patricia Bourke on indigenous economies in the Darwin region, including Shoal Bay, have been useful when trying to understand the survival of the Boustead Jar on the beach ridge at Shoal Bay.
The jar was found on the most seaward to a series of sand ridges that lie across an extensive area of salt flats and mangrove forests. Significant environmental changes to the area are signalled at around five hundred years ago, the date obtained for the jar’s manufacture. Major infilling of the bay is indicated with concurrent movement of mangrove forest seaward, in some places by over one hundred metres. This process could well have protected the jar from exposure to subsequent damaging wave action.
The coastline of Shoal Bay today shows signs of mangrove regression with increased exposure of beach areas, again supporting the possibility of the recent exposure of the jar during monsoon weather. The region’s monsoon climate with a concentrated annual rainfall of around 1.5 metres may also have helped in preservation by leaching out destructive salts absorbed by the earthenware jar from seawater. (Rev. Colin de la Rue is a highly respected scholar whose work on the archaeology of Fort Dundas earned him an MA by research at CDU with a link to the thesis on the Fort Dundas page)
The jar was found on the most seaward to a series of sand ridges that lie across an extensive area of salt flats and mangrove forests. Significant environmental changes to the area are signalled at around five hundred years ago, the date obtained for the jar’s manufacture. Major infilling of the bay is indicated with concurrent movement of mangrove forest seaward, in some places by over one hundred metres. This process could well have protected the jar from exposure to subsequent damaging wave action.
The coastline of Shoal Bay today shows signs of mangrove regression with increased exposure of beach areas, again supporting the possibility of the recent exposure of the jar during monsoon weather. The region’s monsoon climate with a concentrated annual rainfall of around 1.5 metres may also have helped in preservation by leaching out destructive salts absorbed by the earthenware jar from seawater. (Rev. Colin de la Rue is a highly respected scholar whose work on the archaeology of Fort Dundas earned him an MA by research at CDU with a link to the thesis on the Fort Dundas page)
The Find Site
The PastMasters 2015 Shoal Bay Expedition was hosted by the Boustead family and curated by the finder, Billy Boustead.
Billy Boustead and Tim Stone discuss the evolution of the Chenier ridges at the find site in Shoal Bay
Flotsam working through mangroves
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Flotsam behind mangrove fringe
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WW2 boom float x Port Darwin
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Part polished hand axe
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Billy's Bay from further east. Mangrove line apparently on the horizon is the lip of the bay. Such a shallow area is ideal for building shoals & mustering shells.
Towards the find site - mangrove leaf litter from fringing copse at right. BB reports more mangroves back then & much less vegetation on the beach ridge.
L>R Billy Boustead, Mike Hermes & Tim Stone returning to the boat - where Minelab's waterproof Excalibur metal detectors enjoy a rest.
Hypotheses
'Three possible scenarios have been suggested for the jar’s arrival at Shoal Bay; European transport, Asian mariners, or drift voyaging. The date given by the thermo-luminescence report on the jar centres around 1513. The Portuguese first arrived in Southeast Asia at Malacca in 1509 and soon after that date moved further east to establish themselves in Indonesia’s Spice Islands. By 1511 the first Portuguese vessels were visiting the island of Solor in eastern Flores as well as some islands in Maluku. Solor became a safe anchorage and major contact point for Portuguese trading with the Spice Islands to the northeast and the sandalwood rich island of Timor to the south. Although these early dates for Portuguese activity in eastern Indonesia provide a context for the presence of the earthenware jar at Shoal Bay, they do not support any direct Portuguese connection with the area, and nor is there any evidence for Asian maritime activity there. Intensive Southeast Asian contact with North Australia, that of Macassan trepang voyaging, is generally considered to have begun a couple of centuries later. The third possibility is that the jar floated down to the north Australian coast from Eastern Indonesia.'
Visual Inspection
Close inspection revealed multiple sites where white slip is still evident as well as red colouration around the base. Internal examination with a gastroscope at the Darwin Private Hospital shows a well-made vessel with a complex octagonal neck junction and smooth interior wall. Some residue is present. This suggest that instead of a poor-quality earthenware, evaporation jar - we may have the 'skinned' carcass of good quality glazed vessel. The firing may have ramifications for TL dating. A respected Portuguese ceramicist is of the opinion that this is an example of type produced by a large pottery operated between the 14th & 18th centuries that is currently under archaeological excavation on the eastern outskirts of Lisbon.
Internal view of neck from base
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Internal view, possible residue of contents
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Sources & Resources
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The Shoal Bay Environment
Shallow bays - salt flats - fringing mangroves & the hungry sea's middens of shells supporting coarse grasses and the beginnings of a new shoreline.
Wash-over debris driven ashore by King tides & cyclones help to create a harsh estuarine environment with daily tidal drought & deluge - nor any drop to drink.
View from top of 5m high mound - mounds and ridges extend around this promontory - billions of shells.
View of promontory mound site from the saltpan - vestigial mounds, as at right of image, mark another, earlier tideline. Classic Dry season bushfire in distance.
Demonstration of sorting-up process where larger shells are deposited on the top whilst the undertow carries back the lesser items and the silt collects at the base.
Mike Hermes reporting in after a day out on Shoal Bay - scene from Billy Boustead's boat ramp reviver & mud crab dreaming site.
