Western Australian Consolidated Acts Western Australian Consolidated Acts (1) A person
who —
(a)
without the consent of the Trustees, in any way alters, removes, destroys,
damages, or in any way deals with, or assumes the possession, custody or
control of, any maritime archaeological site, ship, relic or thing vested in
the Museum on behalf of the Crown pursuant to this Act; or
(b)
having the consent of the Trustees to do any of the things mentioned in
paragraph (a), is in breach of any condition to which the giving of the
consent was subject; or
(c)
impedes or hinders, or endeavours in any way to impede or hinder, any member
of the staff or employee of the Museum or any person acting with the authority
of the Trustees who is inspecting, recovering or otherwise dealing with any
such site, ship, relic, or thing,
commits an offence.
Penalty: $2 000 or imprisonment for 12 months
or both the fine and imprisonment.
(2) In any proceedings
for an offence against subsection (1) the fact that no notice in writing
to the Director in relation to that object has been given under the provisions
of —
(a)
section 20C of the Museum Act 1959 2 ; or
(b)
section 42 of the Museum Act 1969 ,
and that the
Trustees’ authority in writing permitting the object to be sold,
destroyed or otherwise disposed of has not been given is deemed to be proved
in the absence of proof to the contrary.