Collections - Australian National Maritime Museum

Due to the sheer size of our collection, only a fraction of the Australian National Maritime Museum’s objects can be on display at any one time.

Don't let our lack of physical space get in the way of making new discoveries. You can explore a rich and diverse collection of artefacts online ranging from rocket boats to gold buttons, and discover a wealth of remarkable stories.

Main image: Dock workers and floating crane / Titan Darling Harbour / c. 1947. David Moore. ANMM Collection 00030758

Explore the Collection

Colonial Wallpapers - Pacific Encounters

Based on the conventions and elements of early European sea charts, the painting 'Colonial Wallpapers - Pacific Encounters' incorporates a central compass rose, rumb lines and wind gods in a reconstruction of the Pacific.

From the collection

Illustrated log of the whaling barque TERROR

Illustrated log of the Terror

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HMT Queen Mary assisted by a tug

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Hobart Town 1856

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Arch in the Sky

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Emeret Nar: ghost net canoe

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The Charlotte Medal

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The loss of HMAS Patricia Cam

22 Jan 2018

Seventy-five years ago on 22 January 1943, HMAS Patricia Cam was bombed by a Japanese floatplane and sank near the Wessel Islands, in the Arafura Sea off East Arnhem Land in northern Australia.

Irene Pritchard, Sydney’s first female race skipper

17 Jan 2018

On Christmas Eve 1898, Irene Pritchard became the first woman to race a sailing boat on Sydney Harbour. Skippering the tiny 8-footer (2.4 metre) Zephyr, she took to the front early and won her first race with two minutes to spare.

Goodwill to all

25 Dec 2017

As the year crawls to its inevitable end and we turn our thoughts to Christmas, it is important to keep things in perspective as the trials of the season also begin to appear. Usually, these occur doing the early stages of Christmas travel.

SY Ena is one of the finest Edwardian steam yachts in the world

SY Ena comes home to Sydney

22 Dec 2017

Shortly after 9.0’clock on Saturday morning, a handsome steam yacht, built for Mr TA Dibbs was launched from Mr Fords yard, Berrys Bay. As she left the ways she was christened ‘Ena’ by Miss Dorothy Dibbs.

The beautiful Balts – 70 years on

28 Nov 2017

At the museum, we hold a rich collection of ephemera. Many of these items go on to acquire a lasting historical or social significance, such as a letter that was sent to a passenger on the former troopship USAT General Stuart Heintzelman in 1947.

Ken Warby and SPIRIT OF AUSTRALIA: Still the world record holder, 40 years later

20 Nov 2017

On 20 November 1977, Ken Warby set the world water speed record, piloting his wooden jet-powered boat, Spirit of Australia, into the history books.

Maritime Moustaches

16 Nov 2017

Moustaches were big in the late 19th century. Really big.

Remembering the White Russians

07 Nov 2017

The October Revolution in Russia, which occurred 100 years ago today on 7 November 1917 (or 25 October in the old Julian calendar), would lead to the exodus of the refugees known as White Russians or white émigrés.

The elusive Mrs Cherry

06 Nov 2017

In our own museum’s immigration collection are two intriguing watercolour albums that were created by traveller and amateur cartoonist, Mrs M E Cherry, in the 1930s.

90 years since the Greycliffe ferry disaster

03 Nov 2017

The sinking of the Greycliffe ferry on 3 November 1927 remains the most significant accident on Sydney Harbour to date. Forty lives were lost when the ferry collided with the Union Steamship Company’s liner Tahiti.

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