Two Bega High School students and their teacher have helped solve a 180-year-old mystery with the discovery of the wreck of the HM colonial schooner Mermaid.      

Year 11 students Megan Blacker and Alice Lafferty, along with teacher Elaine Cozens, were part of a crew of marine archaeologists that identified the wreckage on Flora Reef, off the coast of Cairns, in January. The Mermaid broke up on the Great Barrier Reef in 1829.      

Mrs Cozens said the discovery seemed like it was “meant to be”.       

“The first time the archaeologists knew it was the Mermaid they asked for the girls to be on the dive site because they wanted them to share the moment,” Mrs Cozens said.      

The trio earned their place in the expedition team by winning the Australian National Maritime Museum’s nationwide schools competition. The students won with a multimedia presentation about Tathra’s steamship wharf.      

During the expedition the girls maintained an expedition blog on the museum’s website and dived with the researchers and marine photographers.      

Mrs Cozens, who previously ran a diving business, held snorkelling sessions for the two students in the local Bega pool.      

“I taught them all the basic skills, how to duck dive, clear their snorkels and their masks,” she said.      

During their one-week stay with the crew the trio snorkelled four hours a day and covered a total of 11 kilometres with researchers who used metal detectors to locate items from the wreckage. Global positioning system markers recorded their movements while experts examined any items of interest.      

Australian National Maritime Museum curator Kieran Hosty, who led the expedition, said the collection of fastenings, musket shots, the anchor and anchor chain matched historical records of the Mermaid. Broad arrow markings – an indication of government ownership – found on the fastenings were further proof the wreck was the NSW colonial schooner.      

Mr Hosty said the students fitted in incredibly well with the crew and their blog fulfilled the museum’s aim.      

“We wanted a different look to the expedition and it was actually about getting high school students interested in history and archaeology,” he said.      

The experience also led the students to consider future career options.      

Alice, a keen photographer, said working with the team’s marine photographer had “opened up new ideas and possibilities” and her “passion for biological science” had grown.      

For Megan the expedition deepened her interest in history.      

“Talking to [the experts] you just feel their enthusiasm for the job,” she said.