Blog

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.

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Discover more stories from a unique range of contributors...

Screenshot from the PS 'Herald' VR experience

The PS 'Herald' VR Experience: Seven students, one virtual dive

14 Sep 2020

How do you share a historic shipwreck with those who aren't divers or maritime archaeologists? The museum's Curator of RAN Maritime Archaeology, Dr James Hunter, teamed up with Professor Holger Deuter and seven masters students from Germany's University of Applied Sciences, Kaiserslautern to allow anyone to participate in a 'virtual dive' on PS Herald, a wrecked sidewheel steamship that lies off North Head at the entrance to Sydney Harbour.

A discarded motorbike transforms from trash to treasure by creating habitat for small fish and invertebrate growth in the Cabbage Tree Bay Aquatic Reserve off Manly

Submerged secrets: Life thrives beneath Sydneys waterways

11 Sep 2020

Beneath the surface of Sydney's waterways and coastal strip is a surprising and wild marine metropolis waiting to be discovered, writes photojournalist and marine biologist Justin Gilligan.

Military personnel photographed boarding Orsova in 1916

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.

Part of a 13-metre-long cast of an Elasmosaur

MOOCs, makers and monsters: Bringing prehistoric marine reptiles to life

16 Dec 2019

If you don’t know a pliosaur from a plesiosaur, how do you devise an exhibition about them and other prehistoric marine reptiles? How do you decide what approach to take and what items to include? And how do you find fossils or make replicas? Em Blamey takes us through the creation of Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Ocean Predators.

Encounters around Australia: Investigating our history

13 Dec 2019

Travelling to 38 different locations around Australia by sea and open road, Encounters 2020 will bring to life perspectives from the sea and from the shore.

An iceberg superbly sculpted by wind and water, is lit by the Arctic sun. Gillian Clark, Eskimo Bay, 2015

Polar opposites: What's the difference between the Arctic and Antarctica?

24 Sep 2019

At a glance, the two extremes of planet earth seem almost identical – cold, snowy and untamed. If you can get past those icy temperatures, however, the Arctic and Antarctic regions are completely unique. We’ve investigated exactly what makes the Arctic and Antarctica so different, and so special.

Sylvia Earle celebrating the ocean at the top of the world [Michael Aw]

Her deepness: Dr Sylvia Earle

13 Sep 2019

Sylvia Earle has lived underwater for a week, walked the sea floor at a (record-breaking) depth of 381 metres and has led over 50 ocean expeditions. At 84, Time’s ‘Hero for the Planet’ isn’t slowing down. We explore Sylvia's incredible career and how she is saving the ocean through Hope Spots.

Arctic puffins, Svalbard. Image Michael Aw

Elysium Arctic: Artists for social change

25 Jul 2019

A team of explorers, photographers and scientists banded together to inspire social change in Elysium Arctic, the museum’s newest outdoor exhibition. Their goal was to document the effects of climate change on the unique Arctic ecosystem through art and science. What did they find in the world’s northernmost regions?