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Geelong Advertiser ARCHAEOLOGISTS will mobilise a world first research processing model as they excavate secrets from colonial trading ship the Clarence, wrecked near St Leonards. Advances in digital and X-ray technology will enable new rapid analysis and recording of fragments of loose material lifted to a barge above the vessel by members of a 60-strong research team. The Australian-built Clarence has rested on and in the sand since 1850 when it hit a sandbar while transporting 132 sheep from Melbourne to Hobart. People aboard the ship survived the wrecking and people from Geelong rescued the sheep. The wreck was discovered in 1982 in about five metres of water about 300m offshore and is heritage-listed. Leading Monash University archaeologist and Australian Historic Shipwreck Preservation Project investigator Dr Mark Staniforth will headline a research team including experts from six countries, the University of Western Australia, Australian National University, Australian Institute for Maritime Archaeology and Australian state and territory museums. Dr Staniforth said foundation research on the Clarence from the 1980s would underpin the project and magnify advances in research technology. "That probably settled the argument," he said. "It's something we had baseline information about, we couldn't think of another one in Australia." He said the Clarence was in remarkably good shape for its age. Research would focus on its construction and the insights it provided into colonial life, along with the method of information processing. "Hopefully once we get the process going objects should be able to come up and be recorded and then back down on the same day," Dr Staniforth said. The ship's hull would remain in the sea bed. A specialised barge will arrive over the site today in preparation for one month of excavation starting on April 16
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