Storybox

Installation

Photo taken at night, of bright screens in a large cube, showing a red and orange aboriginal artwork, with a female figure silhouetted on the right of the image.

The Australian National Maritime Museum is proud to be working with STORYBOX to create a series of stories that highlight different aspects of our relationships to the oceans and waterways.

Storybox is a bespoke digital cube created by Studio ESEM, designed to inspire, inform and connect communities in shared spaces around Australia. Each program is unique, reflecting the creativity and connections that surround it. Learn more at storybox.co

Content on Storybox at the museum is constantly changing, with new creative projects exploring our collection, exhibitions and programs. Make sure to stop by during your visit to dive deeper insight into stories both above and below the water.

Projects

The ITF Seafarers’ Trust

Presented during the Sydney 2026 International Congress of Maritime Museums, themed Maritime Museums in Action: Moving Forward with Courage and Conviction, the Storybox display celebrates the people whose courage and dedication keep the world's maritime industries moving. Drawn from the ITF Seafarers’ Trust photographic collection, these images capture moments of endurance, resilience, teamwork and humanity, while highlighting the vital importance of supporting the wellbeing of those who work at sea.

The ITF Seafarers’ Trust is a UK charity that funds programmes to advance the wellbeing of maritime workers, seafarers and their families. Established in 1981, the Trust’s vision is to be the leader in promoting and improving the wellbeing of seafarers worldwide, envisaging a world where all seafarers are healthy, happy and have decent work. The Trust is funded by its own capital funds, and by the investment income of the Welfare Fund at the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), a global federation of more than 740 affiliated trade unions from over 150 countries representing almost 16.5 million workers.

A crew member wearing safety gear and a harness works from the side of a bright red cargo ship at sea, carrying out maintenance above the waterline. The ship's deck stretches into the distance under a pink and blue sky, with several vessels visible on the horizon.

A seafarer carries out essential maintenance work on a ship's exterior while underway in Philippine waters.

Photo: Renard Renz Duque / Life at Sea, courtesy The Seafarers' Charity

A seafarer in stained coveralls stands on a ship's deck with heavily soiled hands after completing maintenance work, with industrial maritime equipment and weathered vessel surfaces visible around them.

A seafarer returns from a day of machinery maintenance aboard a vessel in Huanghua, China, bearing the marks of demanding work at sea.

Photo: Aljon Kenneth L. Sobrevega / Life at Sea, courtesy The Seafarers' Charity

A crew member wearing safety gear stands on a ladder inside a cargo hold, using a long-handled roller to paint a high section of the hold's steel frame while the vessel is at sea.

A seafarer paints high inside a cargo hold while underway near Las Palmas, Spain, demonstrating the skill and determination required to maintain a vessel at sea.

Photo: Vhernard Manalad Hernandez / Life at Sea, courtesy The Seafarers' Charity

100 Years of Beaches

Dive into a century of sun, sand, and stories, showcasing Australia’s iconic beach culture through the Australian National Maritime Museum’s historic collection.

Explore the collection

andcoloured photographic postcard depicting view along a beach at Glenelg. Bathers in sea and on shore, large houses visible in background.

Postcard. At Glenelg, near Adelaide. Early 20th century. Ink on card.

ANMM Collection

Black and white image showing many people in the waves at a beach.

Postcard of bathers in the surf at Cottesloe Beach, Western Australia.

ANMM Collection

The image shows Coogee Beach with a raised embankment with a railway, on which there are trains. Horse drawn vehicles can be seen on the road beside the railway tracks and groups of people walking along the beach are also visible.

Watercolour titled Coogee attributed to Albert Charles Cooke. 1850-1900.

ANMM Collection Gift from Tim McCormick Rare Books

Black and white photograph depicting a group of acrobatics performing on a beach, three men two of which are in bathing costumes are seen lifting three women

Untitled (Palm beach acrobatics). c. 1920S - 1930s.

Photographer unknown, ANMM Collection

Postcard titled 'The Beach, St Kilda'.

Valentine & Sons' publishing Co Ltd. ANMM Collection

Handcoloured photographic offset print shoing many people on the beach in both period dress and bathing costumes.

Postcard of Neilson Park at Bundaberg of Queensland. c1900.

Published by Edco, ANMM Collection

Coloured photographic image of bathers wading in the shallows of Coogee Beach

Postcard titled '1069 Coogee Beach, Sydney, N.S.W.'

Photo H.E. Davis, Printed by J. Beagles & Co. ANMM Collection

1930s Black and white photograph depicting three lifesavers marching at Manly beach

Lifesavers marching at Manly beach during the 1938 Surf Carnival during the Commonwealth Games.

ANMM Collection Gift from Johanna Trainor

Tinted image, ocean on the right, many people on the shoreline. No buildings visible, only sand dunes.

Postcard. Bondi beach, sydney. Circa 1911.

ANMM Collection

tinted photographic print depicting an elevated view of the jetty in South Australia.

Postcard titled, 'Semaphore Jetty, S.A.'

ANMM Collection

1 - 10

Tunku and Ngaadi

Created by Studio Gilay for Vivid 2025 and also projected on the Museum's roof.

Tunku and Ngaadi is a Dreaming story from the south coast of NSW told and illustrated by Walbunja and Ngarigo artist Cheryl Davison. This story is about shaping the valleys, plants, animals and waterways.

Gifted powers of creation, Ngaadi thrives, while Tunku is overwhelmed, refusing to finish his work he is banished to the moon by the Creator, Mirriyal. Ngaadi is heartbroken, her tears become rivers and oceans, her shattered heart forms the waratah flower. Though forever separated from Ngaadi, Tunku’s moonlight guides Earth’s rhythms of life.

Illustration by a first nations artist showing whales and fish circling on a blue background

Photo taken at night, of bright screens in a large cube, showing a red and orange aboriginal artwork, with a female figure silhouetted in front of it.

Anthony Rigby-Smith

Photo taken at night, of bright screens in a large cube, showing an animation of fish underwarter, with a male figure silhouetted in front.

Anthony Rigby-Smith

Endeavour departs

In January 2025, Endeavour voyaged from the museum in Sydney to Hobart to take part in the Australian Wooden Boat Festival (AWBF), the country’s largest wooden boat festival.

With the wind against us, watch as the replica tall ship motors out of Sydney Harbour before turning south.

Australian National Maritime Museum

Fleet stories

Highlighting the hard that our Fleet team do behind the scenes every single day, Fleet stories shines a light on their experience on our wonderful vessels and reveals what they love most about their lives onboard them.

Photo of a viewfinder on a video camera, showing a woman standing on a wooden tall ship.

photo of captain of endeavour standing and smiling, with the mast and ropes behind him.

Photo showing 3 men standing behind a video camera on a wooden tall ship

Underwater Sydney

Underwater Sydney was the museum's first project for Storybox. It aims to provide a unique perspectives on what lies beneath our oceans, and the role we all play in sustaining healthy underwater lives.

Featuring stunning underwater videography of Sydney’s waterways by Mike Jones, Underwater Sydney enables audiences to engage with and experience the beauty and variety of marine flora and fauna.

Underwater Sydney - STORYBOX.

Australian National Maritime Museum