Latest News

One Day from Glory – a World Cup retrospective
News | Created 27 Feb 2015
So you think you know your World Cup cricket?

Why not test yourself at the Western Australian Museum’s World Cup exhibition – One Day from Glory – which goes on display today in the foyer at the WA Museum – Perth, and should help you join up the dot balls.

WA Museum CEO Alec Coles said the Museum’s tribute to the World Cup, its history, its origins, highs and lows, and its controversies, will take you back through the journey that brought cricket’s greatest one-day prize to where it is today.
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How to find gold
News | Created 24 Feb 2015
The Western Australian Museum – Kalgoorlie-Boulder will host a lecture this week about how to find gold more easily.

Senior exploration geologist David Nixon will present Clz – Not All Laterites Are Created Equal to answer common questions asked by prospectors, on Wednesday 25 February.

WA Museum – Kalgoorlie-Boulder Regional Manager Zoe Scott said it will be interesting to hear how someone with extensive local knowledge finds gold on the Goldfields.
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Shipwreck Galleries to close temporarily for maintenance
News | Created 20 Feb 2015
The Western Australian Museum is commencing the final phase of planned maintenance work at the historic Shipwreck Galleries in Fremantle, beginning 3 March, 2015.

WA Museum CEO Alec Coles said the Shipwreck Galleries will be closing for approximately six weeks while work is done to replace the ageing roof and remediate the limestone walls of the heritage listed Commisariat Building, which dates back to 1852.
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Rare Ruby Seadragon uncovered in WA
News | Created 19 Feb 2015
A new species of seadragon has been discovered off the coast of Western Australia by researchers at the Western Australian Museum.

The bright red Ruby Seadragon (Phyllopteryx dewysea) is only the third species of seadragon ever recorded in the world.
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Final days of expedition reveal new Batavia burials
News | Created 10 Feb 2015
A team of WA archaeologists and scientists has found the remains of four people in a sequence of remarkable discoveries at Beacon Island, part of the Houtman Abrolhos off the coast of Geraldton.

The research team, from the Western Australian Museum and The University of Western Australia, returned to Perth yesterday after an expedition to Beacon Island to examine archaeological sites related to one of WA’s most famous shipwrecks, the Batavia.
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Expedition reveals new Batavia burial site
News | Created 4 Feb 2015
Archaeologists from the Western Australian Museum and The University of Western Australia are back at Beacon Island examining archaeological sites related to one of WA’s most famous shipwrecks, the Batavia.

One burial site containing the remains of an adolescent person was carefully excavated by the team yesterday. Further investigations of other sites are continuing
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New app puts the WA Museum in your pocket
News | Created 20 Jan 2015
The Western Australian Museum’s incredible collections and valuable research are now more accessible than ever with the release of a new app that effectively puts the Museum in your pocket.

The new app – Reveal WAM – streams WA Museum content direct to your smartphone or tablet, and was released this morning.

Reveal WAM packages articles, blogs, videos and web features into a simple mobile app.

Digital Services Manager Morgan Strong said the Museum aims to reach the public in as many ways as possible.
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Historic shipwreck hunt bound for Christmas Island
News | Created 19 Jan 2015
Half a century after making a major shipwreck discovery that would lead to a lifelong passion for maritime archaeology, Graeme Henderson is setting out once more to find a Fortuyn.

On 19 January, Graeme and a team of Australian shipwreck archaeologists plan to leave Perth bound for Australia’s Indian Ocean territories of Christmas Island and the Cocos Keeling Islands on a quest they’re calling ‘Closing in on the Fortuyn’.
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Would you like to help plan our New Museum?
News | Created 12 Jan 2015
Forty West Australians are being asked to join the team planning the State’s New Museum.

A number of community panels are being established to provide input and feedback into the content and proposed design of the Museum that will open in 2020.

Culture and the Arts Minister John Day said a people-first approach was being adopted to create a landmark museum building and unique visitor experience. You can read the Minister's full statement here.

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World’s smallest goanna lizard species discovered in the Kimberley region
News | Created 30 Dec 2014
The WA Museum is pleased to announce the discovery of a new species of goanna lizard from the Kimberley region.

The name of the new species is the ‘Dampier Peninsula Goanna’, so-called as this species is only known from the peninsula north of Broome and Derby, in the western Kimberley region of Western Australia. The scientific name is Varanus sparnus.
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New management for Brig Amity replica
News | Created 24 Dec 2014
The Western Australian Museum – Albany is proud to announce it has taken over visitor management for the Brig Amity replica after an extensive refurbishment program by the City of Albany.

Rachel Wilsher-Saa, WA Museum – Albany Regional Manager said since opening in 1976, the replica of the Brig Amity has been an integral part of the Albany landscape.
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Holiday Closure at the Museum
News | Created 19 Dec 2014
The holiday season is fast approaching and, as usual, the Museum’s metropolitan and regional sites will be closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and New Year’s Day.
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Historic Australian photographs now online
News | Created 18 Dec 2014
A collection of photographs documenting Australian life at the turn of the 20th century is now available on the Western Australian Museum’s website.

Five thousand images taken by Goldfields photographers John Joseph Dwyer and Thomas Faulkner Mackay have been digitised and are accessible to the public.

The collection documents everyday life on the Goldfields: from the development of the mining industry, to landscapes, to the personal lives of locals through portraits.
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A new species of deep-sea bone worm turns a reproductive strategy on its head
News | Created 15 Dec 2014
A study published today in Current Biology reveals a new species of marine bone-eating worm whose mating system defies what scientists thought they knew about this already bizarre creature. Unlike previously discovered species, these males are the same size as females.

When Osedax worms were first discovered 12 years ago, only females were found, feasting on bones deep in the ocean. The males were all dwarfs, permanently attached to females’ tubes in groups like harems.
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Muslim women’s style on display at WA Museum – Geraldton
News | Created 9 Dec 2014
An exhibition showcasing Muslim women’s contemporary fashion will open at the Western Australian Museum – Geraldton this week.

Faith Fashion Fusion: Muslim women’s style in Australia focuses on an emerging modest fashion market and the work of Australian Muslim designers and entrepreneurs.

A group of well-respected Australian Muslim women also share their experiences of faith and fashion, including three Geraldton women.
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Santa visits WA Museum – Kalgoorlie-Boulder
News | Created 4 Dec 2014
Santa will pay a special visit to the Western Australian Museum – Kalgoorlie-Boulder during its Open Day this week.

Children will have the opportunity to have their photograph taken with Santa, as well as participate in free activities on St Barbara’s Day, Saturday 6 December.

WA Museum – Kalgoorlie-Boulder Manager Zoe Scott said there will be Christmas card making, hula hoop decorating, face-painting and poppy making activities on the day.
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Kimberley marine research findings and challenges
News | Created 26 Nov 2014
The Western Australian Museum has concluded its sixth and final expedition of an award-winning research project into the Kimberley’s unique marine life.

Aquatic Zoology Senior Project Officer Clay Bryce will present Kimberley Marine Life Secrets Revealed at the WA Maritime Museum this Wednesday 26 November as part of the Western Australian Museum’s In the Wild West lecture series.
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Da Vinci Machines at WA Museum – Albany
News | Created 26 Nov 2014
Experience Leonardo da Vinci’s genius first-hand when da Vinci Machines opens at the Western Australian Museum – Albany this Saturday 29 November.

This exciting exhibition features 60 of his visionary inventions in the areas of flying machines, nautical innovations, and machines of war, alongside 15 beautifully crafted replicas of famous da Vinci artworks.
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Contractors invited to submit interest to design, construct New Museum
News | Created 26 Nov 2014
Minister for Culture and the Arts John Day today invited local and international teams to submit expressions of interest to design and construct the New Museum for Western Australia in the Perth Cultural Centre. You can read the Minister’s full statement here.
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Hidden Treasures exhibition extended at the WA Museum
News | Created 13 Nov 2014
The Western Australian Museum is delighted to announce it is extending its season of the stunning exhibition Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul until 18 January 2015.

This beautiful exhibition of treasures once thought lost to the world contains more than 200 rare and beautiful objects dating back to the Bronze Age, from a place that was once at the crossroads of the world’s great civilisations.
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