15 May 2015Compelling WA press photography on displayThe work of WA’s most exciting news photographers has been captured in the 2015 WA Press Photographer of the Year exhibition, currently on display at the Western Australian Museum in Perth. WA Museum CEO Alec Coles said the Museum is delighted to host this year’s exhibition. “This exhibition gives eyewitness accounts of this State’s major news events, sporting moments and incredible personal stories, captured by Western Australian photographers over the past year,” Mr Coles said.Read more News Sharna Craig
1 May 2015New images confirm the fate of HMAS Sydney (II)An expedition to survey the historic World War II shipwrecks of HMAS Sydney (II) and the German raider HSK Kormoran has produced new photographic evidence which appears to confirm why Sydney was so quickly disabled, leading to catastrophic damage and the devastating loss of everyone on board. New high resolution images taken two days ago by Curtin University on board DOF Subsea's vessel Skandi Protector clearly shows, for the first time, a 15cm shell hole through the bridge at the compass platform.Read more News Danny Murphy
28 Apr 2015Mission to document our worst naval tragedyAn expedition to survey the historic World War II shipwrecks of HMAS Sydney (II) and her nemesis HSK Kormoran using the latest high-resolution imaging technology has begun. Culture and the Arts Minister John Day said this was a very important expedition to one of the most inaccessible, yet significant heritage locations in Australia. Read the Minister's full statement. Read more News Sharna Craig
24 Apr 2015One Hundred Postcards from WWI front lineAn extraordinary collection of postcards sent to a Boulder woman from men serving on the front line of World War One will go on display at the Western Australian Museum – Perth, in time for Anzac Day. More than 100 postcards were sent from six young soldiers serving in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) to home-nurse Eliza ‘Lida’ Jane Downey. WA Museum history curator Stephen Anstey said the postcards were sent from the soldiers while they were training and on active duty overseas.Read more News Sharna Craig
16 Apr 2015Commemorating World War One at the Western Australian Museum – AlbanyAn exhibition honouring the Anzacs who fought to liberate France during World War One will open at the WA Museum – Albany this week. 100 Affiches for a Centenary contains 100 original posters (affiches) which were hand painted from 1914 – 1918. The French war-time posters were used as propaganda to heighten patriotism during the War, and some feature the Anzacs. The rare posters are from French collector Dr Pierre Grézard’s collection. WA Museum – Albany Manager Rachael Wilsher-Saa said the exhibition is a great tribute to the centenary of World War One.Read more News Sharna Craig
9 Apr 2015WA's blockbuster Dinosaur Discovery exhibition now in QueenslandThe Western Australian Museum’s own blockbuster exhibition Dinosaur Discovery: Lost Creatures of the Cretaceous has opened to rave reviews at the Queensland Museum and will be on display there until 5 October, 2015. WA Museum CEO Alec Coles said the exhibition broke all records for the WA Museum attracting more than 173,000 visitors, with strong demand seeing the exhibition extended for an extra three weeks. Mr Coles believes it will be just as popular in Queensland.Read more News Flora Perrella
9 Apr 2015WA photographer snaps two ANZANG awards Threatened Species category winner Social Drinking by Keith Lightbody, Western AustraliaRead more News Flora Perrella
19 Mar 2015Marking 300 years since the death of William DampierThe Western Australian Museum – Geraldton will host a series of free lectures to mark 300 years since the death of explorer William Dampier. WA Museum Maritime Archaeology curator Dr Michael (Mack) McCarthy will present the first of three lectures, Elusive Phantoms: Finding William Dampier and the Roebuck at 2pm, on Sunday 22 March 2015. He will reveal the adventures of Dampier and describe how Their Majesties’ Ship Roebuck – one of the most famous exploration ships – was found.Read more News Sharna Craig
16 Mar 2015WA Museum coral expert helps date ancient tombsWestern Australian Museum researcher Dr Zoe Richards has identified coral used in three sacred pyramid tombs on a prehistoric Micronesian island to date their construction to the 14th Century, more than 300 years earlier than was previously thought. Dr Richards and an international team of scientists investigated the ages of corals used in the construction of sacred tombs that interred royalty on the Pacific Island of Kosrae. Read more News Sharna Craig
16 Mar 2015Marking 300 years since the death of William DampierThe Western Australian Museum – Albany will host a series of lectures this week to mark 300 years since the death of explorer William Dampier.Read more News Sharna Craig
13 Mar 2015The Last Gentlemen of War extendedWestern Australian Museum CEO Alec Coles today announced that due to strong demand the Museum’s The Last Gentlemen of War exhibition will remain open for a further two weeks, now extended until Sunday, 10 May. Mr Coles said the exhibition, produced by the WA Museum, tells the compelling story on the Battle of Cocos, Australia’s successful first naval engagement in World War One which took place more than 100 years ago on 9 November, 1914. “While this story is relatively unknown, it is one which has brought great national pride to both countries,” Mr Coles said.Read more News Sharna Craig
12 Mar 2015Da Vinci Machines at WA Museum – Kalgoorlie-BoulderExperience Leonardo da Vinci’s genius first-hand when da Vinci Machines opens at the Western Australian Museum – Kalgoorlie-Boulder on Saturday 14 March. 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. WA Museum – Kalgoorlie-Boulder Regional Manager Zoe Scott said the exhibition is unlike anything the Goldfields community has experienced. Read more News Sharna Craig
11 Mar 2015Muslim women’s style on display in the Great SouthernAn exhibition showcasing Muslim women’s contemporary fashion will open at the Western Australian Museum – Albany and the Katanning Art Gallery 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.Read more News Sharna Craig
10 Mar 2015New Aboriginal art movement showcased at Western Australian Museum - GeraldtonAn exhibition of unique works from an Aboriginal art movement emerging from the Western Desert will open this week at the Western Australian Museum – Geraldton. Warakurna: All the Stories Got into our Minds and Eyes features paintings and sculptures which were produced at Warakurna, a community at the foot of the Rawlinson Ranges in Western Australia, 300 kilometres west of Uluru (Ayers Rock), and will be on display from 13 March.Read more News Sharna Craig
27 Feb 2015One Day from Glory – a World Cup retrospectiveSo 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.Read more News Sharna Craig
24 Feb 2015How to find goldThe 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.Read more News Sharna Craig
20 Feb 2015Shipwreck Galleries to close temporarily for maintenanceThe 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.Read more News Sharna Craig
19 Feb 2015Rare Ruby Seadragon uncovered in WAA 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.Read more News Sharna Craig
10 Feb 2015Final days of expedition reveal new Batavia burialsA 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, Batavia.Read more News Sharna Craig
4 Feb 2015Expedition reveals new Batavia burial siteArchaeologists 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 continuingRead more News Sharna Craig