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.

A small selection of the museum's Dunbar collection, purchased with the assistance of the Andrew Thyne Reid Charitable Trust

20 Aug 2020

The melancholy wreck of the 'Dunbar'
Australian military observers being welcomed by Republican officers in Yogyakarta on 14 September 1947. National Library of Australia.

17 Aug 2020

75th anniversary of Indonesian independence
The second pilot steamer  Captain Cook (II) was designed by W D Cruikshank and built at Mort’s Dock & Engineering Company in 1892. Used as a naval training ship during World War II, it was scuttled off Sydney in October 1947. Photographed c 1920 by William James Hall. ANMM Collection ANMS1092[015] Gift from Mr and Mrs Glassford

07 Aug 2020

'Not all beer and skittles': Sydney Harbour pilotage
Lucilla Ronai examining the large Frederick Elliot work comprising of many small watercolours. ANMM Collection 00054300

22 Jul 2020

Fixing the Frederick Elliott watercolours: A big conservation project of small paintings
Kieran Hosty at Boot Reef in December 2018. Image Julia Sumerling/Silentworld Foundation

15 Jul 2020

Ask an Archaeologist Day
James Hunter (left) and Kieran Hosty use baseline-offset mapping to record the hull structure in South Australian's bow

22 May 2020

Bound for 'South Australian': South Australia's oldest known shipwreck found
Painting of James Cook

20 Apr 2020

Mythbusting Cook: Fact fiction and total fallacy
Cooked 2020. Image courtesy Jake Duczynski

22 Dec 2019

Cook in the curriculum: An opportunity to re-evaluate Cook's place in history
Black and white photograph of a ship

21 Dec 2019

Digitising our history: The tragedy of SS Federal