One ocean, our future

Covering more than 70 per cent of the Earth's surface and supplying half its oxygen, the ocean is our planet's life support system.

The ocean provides 50 per cent of the air we breathe and affects our weather, climate, food supply, culture and wellbeing.

In 2021 the museum created this exhibition celebrating our oceans as part of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.

Learn how we are intimately tied to the ocean and how a changing climate, overfishing and pollution are affecting our future.

Marvel at the wonders of the ocean and the diversity of Australia's marine life revealed by Schmidt Ocean Institute's 2020 circumnavigation of Australia aboard their research vessel Falkor.

Dive into the history of ocean science and consider how two centuries of analysing and examining the ocean have given us the knowledge to make things change for the better.

Take a virtual tour inside the exhibition

This exhibition is now closed

What's on now

Explore objects in 3D

Continuous Plankton Recorder

This instrument measures plankton as a guide to the health of Australia’s oceans. Its is towed behind a ship, water passes through a narrow aperture at the front of the CPR body where plankton are filtered onto a slow-moving band of silk and covered by a second silk. On return to the laboratory, the silks are removed from the mechanism and data collected. The Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) Survey is the longest running marine biological survey in the world and provides plankton-recovered data on a pan-oceanic scale.