Relive the day the Royal Perth Yacht Club sailed to victory in the America's Cup with gold coin entry to the country’s most complete Australia II collection this Thursday 26 September to Saturday 28 September at the Western Australian Maritime Museum in Fremantle.

The purpose-built Maritime Museum has housed the iconic winged keel yacht since 2002, and is now also home to one of the most significant America’s Cup collections in the world, including one of only three exact replicas of the coveted Cup, thanks to a donation by Kerry Tasker, widow of Australia's first Olympic sailing medal winner, Rolly Tasker, and the Australian Sailing Museum.

WA Museum history curator Sally May said it was fantastic to have the two collections together for the 30^th anniversary of the historic victory.

“The cup itself represents a momentous occasion in not only Australian, but international maritime history, and it’s fantastic to now have it alongside the yacht responsible,” Ms May said.

The donated collection also includes plans, records and images of America's Cup challengers and defenders from 1851 to 2003; some 100 models of Australian competitive racing classes; and mannequins of significant America's Cup identities from 1851 to 1983.

Skippered by John Bertrand, Australia II’s 1983 victory was the first time in 132 years the America's Cup had been won by a nation other than the United States. The defending New York Yacht Club had held the cup since 1851, the longest winning streak in international sporting history.

It was the race that stopped the nation: televised in Australia in the early hours of the morning and celebrated in homes, pubs and clubs across the country. Then-Prime Minister Bob Hawke was at the RPYC in Crawley when he famously declared: "Any boss who sacks anyone for not turning up today is a bum!”

On Saturday, included in the gold-coin donation entry to the Museum, visitors can watch as more sporting history is made when the Fremantle Dockers take on Hawthorn in the AFL Grand Final, televised in the Museum’s theatre from noon.

Media contact:
Niki Comparti
Western Australian Museum
6552 7805, niki.comparti@museum.wa.gov.au