On Sunday 19th August the Scuba Divers Federation of Victoria presented Sunken Assets 2007, a one day seminar devoted to VictoriaÆs Maritime Heritage. The HDS SEAP was invited to have a stand at the seminar and we did so, displaying a range of photographs and information on the Ted Eldred Porpoise. 

Classic Diver Editor Jeff Maynard was one of the keynote speakers at the event and Jeff presented a talk entitled "Australia's Diving Heritage". This focussed on the history of diving and highlighted Australian inventions and the contribution they made to the overall evolution of diving equipment. 

A number of other HDS SEAP members were also keynote speakers on various shipwreck subjects. Mark Ryan of Victoria spoke of our deep shipwreck pioneers, Andy Viduka from the Museum of North Queensland spoke on the Yongala experience, Frank Ziegler was the facilitator of the open forum discussion, while in the background Des Williams was on the committee that organised the event. Many other members attended the event. 
Overall it was a very successful day and a big æthankyouÆ to everyone who attended and assisted. 

Pic: Mark Ryan of Southern Ocean Exploration tries out Jeff Maynard's Salvus Rebreather in front of the HDS SEAP display.

What a great weekend for HDS SEAP. The NSW members have certainly set a VERY high standard for future HDS SEAP displays, congratulations lads and a very special thanks to Dave Thomas for taking on the role of project organiser for us, as he is certainly cool under pressure. Our stand was excellent, with a variety of mostly Australian made diving equipment fromáthe fantastic collections of Dave, Mel Brown, Tony Gregory and Allan Kessler. There was a large focus on PORPOISE equipment, to educate Australians about the fantastic contribution to diving made by Ted Eldred all those years ago. Stanley provided a Chinese helmet and some of the display tables and dressing. There were plenty of members on hand to rotate in shifts, so others could attend some of the lectures, we worked very well as a team and the interest from the public was brilliant. Visitors to the stand varied from one chap who still dives with twin hose scuba, right over to a 10 year old lad who had recently passed his dive ticket in Vanuatu and was captivated with the historical diving gear on display. Special appreciation goes to Andy Andrew and Geoff Reed who did a stint on the stand and we werenÆt even expecting them at OZTeK. 

It is safe to say (immodestly) that we contributed to the quality of the OZTeK event as well, as the diving publicálearned a lot more about the HDS SEAP and our wonderful Australian diving heritage and it is a testiment to the quality of our display and staff, that so many people came to the stand for quality time. Good old SEAHUNT was certainly a drawcard and attracted the baby-boomers like flies to honey. Just the first few notes of the SEAHUNT 'intro tune' had them flocking to the stand.