World Oceans Day: Innovation of the Seas
11 Jun 2020
Our Curator of Ocean Science and Technology Emily Jateff recaps World Oceans Day and some of the ways it was marked over the world.
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Discover stories behind the latest exhibitions, fascinating explorations into maritime science and archaeology, and the surprising details of what happens inside (and outside) a modern working museum.
Long way from the River
10 Jun 2020
A 13-metre-long dugout canoe suspended from the ceiling forms the centrepiece in our new permanent gallery, Under Southern Skies. Curators Helen Anu and Dr Stephen Gapps explore how this unique canoe from the Sepik River in Papua New Guinea came to be part of the museum's collection.
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A new museology for generation Z: The impact and revolution of Japanese digital art
29 May 2020
The museum's CEO & Director Kevin Sumption recounts visiting the Digital Art Museum (DAM) in Japan where ground-breaking art technology is changing the primacy of physical collections in museums.
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Q&A with WPY finalist Justin Gilligan
22 May 2020
As a finalist in the 55th Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, we caught up with photojournalist Justin Gilligan to find out more about his love for the ocean, photography and what it means to have his work selected and displayed in one of the world's most prestigious photography competitions.
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Bound for 'South Australian': South Australia's oldest known shipwreck found
22 May 2020
Nearly 200 years after its loss, the barque South Australian was relocated by a research consortium that included the museum's maritime archaeology team. Dr James Hunter and Kieran Hosty share the story of South Australia's oldest recorded European shipwreck, and the effort to find, document and preserve it.
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'Ever your loving son': Arthur Pringle and his letters home
21 May 2020
Arthur Pringle as a 13-year old boy wrote to home to his mother while training for the Royal Navy on HMS Britannia. The letters, in true teenage style, are hardly full of information, but they tell enough to show this young boy was keen to impress his parents back at home.
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Mythbusting Cook: Fact fiction and total fallacy
20 Apr 2020
For someone who looms so large in the Australian consciousness, there’s a lot about James Cook that Australians get wrong. Dr Stephen Gapps and Steve Riethoff straighten out some of the misconceptions.
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Paths for peace: High school students reflect on World War II in the Pacific
15 Apr 2020
The museum’s ground-breaking five-year War and Peace in the Pacific 75 international learning program commemorates the 75th anniversary of World War II and promotes peace and reconciliation across the Pacific. Jeff Fletcher profiles the latest iteration, which culminated in student ambassadors from three continents meeting in Japan.
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A deadly shipmate: Surviving 'Spanish flu' aboard HMAT Orsova
19 Mar 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 is turning many eyes back to 1919. Coinciding with the end of World War I, the risk of ‘Spanish’ flu coming to Australia aboard troop transports was very real. Dr Peter Hobbins explores what troopship records reveal about life, death and discipline during the pneumonic influenza pandemic.
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Recognising the first anniversary of the Christchurch mosque attacks
16 Mar 2020
Yesterday the museum hosted a small, private event to mark the first anniversary of the shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, that killed 51 people at Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre.
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