Ashley Maxwell Patterson charged with 22 offences over shipwreck coin seizure, failed to appear in court

A Geraldton man is the first person to be charged as part of an investigation into the alleged looting of rare antique coins from a Dutch shipwreck off the coast of Kalbarri. The rare antique coins are part of a suspected trade in artefacts looted from the Dutch East India Company vessel, Zuytdorp. Ashley Maxwell Patterson, 62, has been charged with 22 offences in relation to the Underwater Cultural Heritage Act 2018. Due to appear before the Geraldton Magistrates Court on Thursday, Mr Patterson failed to appear via video link. Under the Act, Mr Patterson was charged with 10 counts of offer to supply, seven counts of supply, three counts of export and two counts of possession of protected underwater cultural heritage without a permit. If found guilty, Mr Patterson could face imprisonment as well as penalties for each offence of up to five years in jail and a $99,000 fine. Mr Patterson is the first person to be charged in relation to the investigation into the suspected trade in artefacts looted from the Zuytdorp ship. Expeditions to the wreck began when the ship was found on the rocks at the bottom of Zuytdorp Cliffs, Kalbarri. As previously reported by The West Australian in June last year, before being found, there was speculation about the 33m-long, three-mastered ship which went missing in 1712 on a voyage from the Netherlands to Batavia (now Jakarta). The ship was said to have been carrying about 200 passengers and a rich cargo when it went missing more than 300 years ago. When the ship was eventually discovered in 1927, authorised expeditions and looters flocked to the area to recover the artefacts. In September 2024, the rare antique coins were allegedly found in Geraldton after a search warrant executed by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water and WA Police. As a result of the warrant, the then 60-year-old Mr Patterson, was stopped at Perth International Airport by Australian Border Force in October 2024 and was allegedly found to be in possession of 15 coins from the Zuytdorp. In April 2025, the environmental crime section within the DCCEEW, the Australian Federal Police and Australian Border Force seized 88 antique coins from a Geraldton premises. It was alleged they had a value conservatively estimated at more than $240,000, are the property of the Commonwealth and were illegally removed from the Zuytdorp shipwreck. The broad investigation into the coins is ongoing, with the DCCEEW looking into the suspected sale of artefacts from the Zuytdorp wreck domestically and internationally. The coins were previously found listed through various online auction sites and online collector markets in the United States and in the Netherlands. A DCCEEW spokesperson said in addition to the coins seized on Australian soil, two coins had been seized by the National Police of the Netherlands and a further seven by the FBI, with the possibility of a further 17 being retrieved in the United States. “The Australian Government is working with the FBI and National Police on repatriating the coins to Australia,” they said. In court on Thursday, Mr Patterson’s brief first appearance was adjourned, and is due to appear again on May 14.