Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

HISTORIC SHIPWRECKS ACT 1976 - SECT 9

             (1)  Where:

                     (a)  a person has possession, custody or control of an article; and

                     (b)  a notice applying in respect of the article is published in the Gazette under section 4A, 5 or 6;

the person shall, within 30 days after the date of publication of the notice in the Gazette , give the prescribed notice to the Minister in relation to the article.

          (1A)  Where:

                     (a)  a person has possession, custody or control of an article; and

                     (b)  the article becomes an article to which a notice under section 4A applies otherwise than on the publication of the notice;

the person shall, within 30 days after the day on which the article became an article to which the notice applies, give the prescribed notice to the Minister in relation to the article.

             (2)  Where an article in respect of which a notice published in the Gazette under section 4A, 5 or 6 applies comes into the possession, custody or control of a person, the person shall, within 30 days after the day on which the article comes into his or her possession, custody or control, give the prescribed notice to the Minister in relation to the article.

             (3)  Where, at the commencement of this Act, a person has possession, custody or control of an article that is, or is a part of, a Dutch shipwreck or is a Dutch relic, the person shall, within 30 days after the commencement of this Act, give the prescribed notice to the Minister in relation to the article.

             (4)  Where, after the commencement of this Act, an article that is, or is a part of, a Dutch shipwreck or is a Dutch relic comes into the possession, custody or control of a person, the person shall, within 30 days after the day on which the article comes into his or her possession, custody or control, give the prescribed notice to the Minister in relation to the article.

             (5)  It is a defence to a prosecution of a person for an offence against a provision of this section in relation to an article if the person proves:

                     (a)  in the case of an offence against subsection (1), (1A) or (2) in relation to an article in respect of which a notice was published in the Gazette under section 4A, 5 or 6--that the person did not know, and had no reasonable grounds for believing, that the article was an article to which the notice related; or

                     (b)  in the case of an offence against subsection (3) or (4)--that the person did not know, and had no reasonable grounds for believing, that the article was a Dutch relic or a part of a Dutch shipwreck.

             (6)  For the purposes of this section, the prescribed notice in relation to an article means a notice in writing describing the article and stating where the article is situated.

Penalty: 

                     (a)  if the offender is a natural person--$2,000; or

                     (b)  if the offender is a body corporate--$10,000.