Hati Marege is a replica of the type of perahu
which mariners from South Sulawesi, now part of Indonesia, sailed
every year, until banned by the Australian Government in 1906,
to northern Australia.
Many of these perahu set out from, and returned to, the port of
Makassar (Macassar or Ujung Pandang) and the mariners who sailed
to north Australia are known to historians as Macassans.
The Macassans sailed to northern Australia to collect and process beche de mer, sea slugs, holothurians, which they called teripang. The teripang were eviscerated, boiled with tanning agents, dried, and smoked in large smoke houses. Tonnes of processed teripang were carried back to Macassar and then exported to China where teripang is regarded as a delicacy and an aphrodisiac.
Hati Marege was built by traditional shipwrights
in South Sulawesi. They did not work from plans. We showed them
the design we had reconstructed using models which I built.
Hati Marege is now displayed in the Museum of Arts and Sciences, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
Other replicas: Duyfken Hsu fu Alfred Russel Wallace