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.
10 Feb 2012
This cabin bed would have been used by a well-to-do passenger travelling to Australia during the 19th century. Many wealthy passengers would supply their own furniture for the journey and fit out their own cabin.
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02 Feb 2012
With Valentine’s Day just around the corner we take a look at a particularly lovely hand painted envelope from the museum’s naval history collection. A letter was sent by Stoker R Boland to his wife during World War II. Nothing unusual about that, is there?
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31 Jan 2012
The Dunbar was a 1,167-ton wooden three-masted sailing ship built in 1852 by the English shipbuilders James Laing & Sons at Sunderland designed to carry passengers and cargo quickly between England and Australia.
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05 Jan 2012
This white machine-made Valenciennes lace camisole (00046672) was made in the early 1900s and brought to Australia in 1938-39 by the Strauss family, Jewish migrants fleeing Nazi Germany.
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15 Dec 2011
As a tribute to the last flight of the Royal Australian Navy Sea King helicopters today, we’ve chosen the Westland Wessex helicopter as our Object of the Week.
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09 Dec 2011
From 1788 to the late 1890s, every single immigrant to Australia – convict, assisted or free – shared a common experience they would never forget: a passage under sail in a crowded ship lasting anywhere from 60 to 200 days.
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01 Dec 2011
This Chinese tea caddy was exported during the prolific tea trade of the 19th and 20th centuries. It has a pear shaped body decorated with finely grained chrysanthemum blossoms. The cylindrical cover was used to measure tea prior to the introduction of tea caddy spoons and is inscribed with the date, 30th April 1904-1929.
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24 Nov 2011
December is an interesting month for discussion of water conservation and regulation in Australia. At the museum, AQUA: A Journey into the World of Water* opens on 3December with a multisensory experience that promotes a message about the provision of safe drinking water.
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24 Nov 2011
This tin of whale meat relates to a pivotal stage in Australia’s maritime history, when whale meat became prohibited from import/export in Australia. Produced in Japan by the Taiyo Fisher Company, the tin of seasoned whale meat was confiscated by Australian Customs in the mid-1980s under the Commonwealth Wildlife Protection Act (1982).
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17 Nov 2011
In the misty rain of an early Sydney morning the museum’s fleet section moved CLS4 – aka Carpentaria lightship – from the main museum wharves back to its normal berth at Wharf 7. Nudged along by our tug Bareki and towed by the Arvor workboat the operation was seamlessly completed before most people arrived at work. All in a day’s work for fleet!
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