QLD: Re enactment of first ocean voyage under way

AAP General News (Australia)
12-23-1998
QLD: Re enactment of first ocean voyage under way

BRISBANE, Dec 23 AAP - A 16-metre bamboo raft is re-enacting what is believed to be man's
first ocean voyage more than 50,000 years ago, from Kupang on the Indonesian island of Timor
to Darwin.

The raft, Nale Tasih, is the brainchild of maritime historian Bob Hobman and was built on
the island of Roti, south of Timor.

It is re-enacting the arrival of the ancestors of the Australian Aborigine up to 100,000
years ago.

The five-man crew includes Melbourne-based scientist Robert Bednarik.

The raft's first attempt to cross the Timor sea earlier this year was thwarted when the El
Nino phenomenon turned back the annual northwest monsoon in the region and created equatorial
weather havoc around the world.

For the second attempt, the raft was rebuilt by Rotinese craftsmen near Kupang and set sail
on December 17.

On board with Mr Hobman and Mr Bednarik are Australian documentary film maker Peter Rogers,
Sangrinese sailor Zakwerus Jacobus and the raft's builder Emmanual Littik.

At 8am (CST), the raft was 700 nautical miles from Darwin with progress slow.

Food supplies are being supplemented by fresh fish, speared by the Indonesian crew members.

AAP jhm/it

KEYWORD: BAMBOO

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