Matthew Flinders and Bungaree by Helen Tiernan from her series ‘Heroes of Colonial Encounters’. ANMM Collection 00055144 and 00055142.

Blog

Curious about what goes on at the museum? These blogs give you an inside peek.

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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Kim Tao

Kim is the curator of post-Federation immigration at the Australian National Maritime Museum.

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Gina Sinozich, We are sailing the Suez Canal on our way to Australia, 2003. ANMM Collection Gift from Gina Sinozich 00037916

Sail, steam and Suez views

17 Nov 2019

This week marks the 150th anniversary of a great historic coincidence – the opening of the Suez Canal and the launch of the British tea clipper Cutty Sark.

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Coming and Going, the Sydney memorial to British child migrants by Sasha Reid, located outside the museum in Darling Harbour

Reflecting on the child migrant apology

16 Nov 2019

Ten years ago today, the Australian government made a long-awaited national apology to the thousands of former child migrants whose lives were impacted by government-sponsored child migration schemes.

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Workers place concrete reinforcement steel in the Tooma–Tumut Tunnel, part of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme, 1960. Photographer Don Edwards. ANMM Collection Gift from Barbara Alysen ANMS0215[016]

Snowy stories

17 Oct 2019

Seventy years ago today, the first blast was fired in the town of Adaminaby in southern New South Wales, officially marking the start of construction on Australia’s largest engineering project – the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme.

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José Coelho is farewelled by his teaching colleagues in Ponta do Sol, Madeira, prior to his departure for Australia, 1956.

Love and sacrifice: From Madeira Island to the Snowy Mountains

28 Sep 2019

Seventy years ago this October, work began on Australia’s largest engineering project – the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme. Curator Kim Tao shares the story of Portuguese newlyweds José and Maria Coelho, who swapped sunny Madeira Island for the isolation of the Snowy Mountains.

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Goy Galdeano (centre, in white striped top) with the first group of female Spanish assisted migrants to Australia, 1960 [reproduced courtesy Melissa Zabalegui]

Mutiny on the Montserrat: The 60th anniversary of Operation Eucalyptus

02 Sep 2019

An archive of newspaper clippings in the museum’s collection documents a dramatic episode in assisted migration from Spain and Greece to Australia 60 years ago, writes curator Kim Tao. The nightmare 54-day voyage of the Montserrat was marred by engine trouble, fighting between passengers and crew, and even allegations of a mutiny by passengers in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

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Watercolour of Port Adelaide, South Australia, by Samuel Thomas Gill, 1840s. Rex Nan Kivell Collection, National Library of Australia

A worker in tulle: The English lacemakers of Calais

27 Aug 2019

The 1848 Revolution in France led to the exodus of a unique group of refugee artisans now known as the lacemakers of Calais. Curator Kim Tao profiles the story of Edward Lander, chairman of a committee representing nearly 650 English laceworkers and their families, who sought a fresh start in the Australian colonies.

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Annarosa Coluccio (third from left) with her parents (left) and mother-in-law (fourth from left) at her proxy marriage in Roccella Jonica, Calabria, Italy, 1956. Reproduced courtesy Isabella Coluccio

Until we meet again: An Italian proxy bride's story

22 Aug 2019

Annarosa Coluccio (née Bova) was one of 12,000 young Italian women who arrived in Australia as proxy brides between 1945 and 1976. Confronted by vast cultural and linguistic barriers, she eventually settled in with the love of her husband and the friendship of their new Australian neighbours.

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Johanna Goggins is one of the Irish famine orphans who is inscribed on the Welcome Wall. Image: Kim Tao/ANMM.

Remembering the Irish famine orphans

17 Mar 2019

Today some 80 million people worldwide claim Irish ancestry, including an estimated seven million Australians. For St Patrick’s Day, we take a look at the story of the destitute Irish orphans who arrived in Australia 170 years ago at the height of the Great Famine.

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