7 Feb 2017New Manager at the Museum of GeraldtonWestern Australian Museum CEO Alec Coles today announced Museum of Geraldton Senior Project Officer Leigh O’Brien is the Museum’s new Regional Manager. Ms O’Brien takes over from Catherine Belcher who has moved to a new role with the WA Museum based in Perth. “I congratulate Leigh on her appointment and I know that she will put her heart and soul into the Museum of Geraldton and the vibrant region it serves,” Mr Coles said.Read more News Sharna Craig
1 Feb 2017Celebrating colonial gold and silverAn exhibition showcasing rare 19th and 20th Century Australian silver and gold works will be on display at the Museum of the Goldfields from this weekend. Silver and gold: Unique Australian objects 1830-1910 is a travelling exhibition from the National Gallery of Australia that tells stories of personal, community and professional achievements through both ornate and functional objects.Read more News Sharna Craig
10 Jan 2017It’s a science wonderland at the Museum of Geraldton!Families can experience some fascinating principles of science and technology through a mix of interactive exhibits and hands-on experiments when the Museum of Geraldton hosts Scitech’s Science Wonderland from 17-21 January. Museum of Geraldton Regional Manager Catherine Belcher said Science Wonderland is a fantastic family program. “The younger ones will be able to play with light cubes, explore X-rays and discover how colours mix,” Ms Belcher said.Read more News Sharna Craig
16 Dec 2016New Director for Western Australian Museum Foundation The Western Australian Museum Foundation is today pleased to announce it has appointed Ms Jenny Allen as its new Director.Read more News Flora Perrella
15 Dec 2016RTRFM and the Western Australian Museum’s free live music series Harbour Sundays returns to the WA Maritime Museum in 2017After a stellar opening season that saw more than 1,500 local music lovers take in live bands, sunshine and panoramic views at the WA Maritime Museum, Harbour Sundays is back for another five weeks of free, live music in January and February 2017. Taking place on the balcony of the WA Maritime Museum at Victoria Quay in Fremantle, the second series will see five weeks of Perth’s premier musicians, running the gamut from folk, funk blues and reggae to bluegrass, Congolese dance, soul-funk and dub.Read more News Flora Perrella
9 Dec 2016Trapdoor spiders disappearing from Australian landscapeRecent surveys by Australian scientists have identified an apparent significant decline in the numbers of trapdoor spiders across southern Australia Famous for their carefully camouflaged burrows – some with lids or ‘trapdoors’ from which they launch themselves to catch their prey – trapdoor spiders are remarkable animals. The females of some species are known to live in the same burrow for more than 25 years. Read more News Sharna Craig
2 Dec 2016Rough medicine on the high seasRough Medicine: Life and Death in the Age of Sail opened at the Museum of the Great Southern today. WA Museum CEO Alec Coles said the exhibition explores the fascinating history of how illness impacted upon and even shaped early sea voyages from the 17th Century until the advent of the steamship in the late 19th Century.Read more News Sharna Craig
1 Dec 2016International Congress on Underwater Archaeology at the WA Maritime MuseumThe Western Australian Museum is pleased to host the Sixth International Congress on Underwater Archaeology (IKUWA6) at the WA Maritime Museum this week. Museum CEO Alec Coles said IKUWA (Internationaler Kongreß für Unterwasserarchäologie) is an independent, not-for-profit international network, and IKUWA6 is organised under the patronage of UNESCO and focuses on maritime archaeology.Read more News Flora Perrella
29 Nov 2016Beneath the Waves wins screen awardAn online interactive documentary created by the Western Australian Museum and production company Periscope Pictures, together with interactive experience developers Hungry Sky, has won a 2016 SAE ATOM Award. Beneath the Waves was announced as the ‘Best Educational/Training Video or Website (Primary/Secondary)’ at an awards ceremony in Melbourne. Western Australian Museum CEO Alec Coles said the Beneath the Waves is the culmination of six years of marine biodiversity survey work in the Kimberley and more than a year of digital production design.Read more News Sharna Craig
22 Nov 2016Spiders invade Elizabeth QuayThe Western Australian Museum will be displaying, playing and talking all things spiders – alongside a 50-tonne fire breathing spider at Elizabeth Quay this week. The Museum’s spider encounter will take place inside the WA Museum’s inflatable museum for Arcadia Australia. Arcadia – a spectacle of technology, performance, lasers and community activities – will make its Australian debut in Perth from tomorrow and thousands of people are expected to attend. WA Museum CEO Alec Coles said it is a unique opportunity for people to get up close and personal with spiders.Read more News Sharna Craig
4 Nov 2016Descendants of the VOC exhibition presented by Make Smoking History, opens in GeraldtonAn exhibition featuring exquisite photos and oral histories of indigenous people from Western Australia, Indonesia and Southern Africa who claim Dutch heritage through adventurers visiting their shores, opens this Saturday at the Museum of Geraldton (previously the WA Museum – Geraldton).Read more News Sharna Craig
2 Nov 2016Exceptional Yurlmun exhibition opens in Albany An exhibition featuring historic objects made by Albany’s Menang people nearly 200 years ago opens at the Museum of the Great Southern (previously the WA Museum – Albany) today.Read more News Jane Rosevear
31 Oct 2016Dutch King and Queen unveil Hartog Dish in FremantleThe Western Australian Museum is pleased to announce that its special exhibition, Travellers and Traders in the Indian Ocean World, was officially opened today by Their Majesties King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands. The exhibition is one of the Museum’s many contributions to the commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the first European contact with Western Australia, when Dutchman Dirk Hartog landed at what is now Cape Inscription.Read more News Sharna Craig
17 Oct 2016New survey allays fears about coral reef health in the inshore KimberleyOnly six months after one of the worst summers in history for coral bleaching, a new coral reef biodiversity and health survey suggests some of Australia’s most biologically important fringing reef communities in the central Kimberley remain intact. A team of Western Australian Museum and Curtin University researchers accompanied by Wunambal Gaambera Aboriginal Corporation's Uunguu Rangers have just returned from a seven-day survey of coral reefs in the Bonaparte Archipelago.Read more News Sharna Craig
23 Sep 2016School holiday fun at the new Discovery Zone in the State Library Come and explore the Western Australian Museum’s new Discovery Zone, now open at the State Library of Western Australia in the heart of the Perth Cultural Centre. The new Discovery Zone is an exciting space created especially for the young and the curious. Touch and see objects from across Western Australia and around the world as you learn about dinosaur trackways, meteorites and our amazing night sky.Read more News Jane Rosevear
9 Sep 2016Search for 5th Old Dutch shipwreck to continue The Western Australian Museum continues its search for a possible fifth Dutch East India Company (VOC) shipwreck, believed to have been lost at the Abrolhos Islands off the Mid West coast around 300 years ago, working alongside celebrated wreck-hunter and author Hugh Edwards.Read more News Jane Rosevear
7 Sep 2016Exhibition reveals the truth about Australia’s past adoption practicesA new exhibition, Without Consent: Australia’s past adoption practices opens at the Western Australian Museum – Albany on Saturday 10 September 2016. It brings to light a previously hidden aspect of Australia’s past – forced adoptions –and has offered those affected an opportunity to share their experiences, some for the first time.Read more News Jane Rosevear
7 Sep 2016Rough medicine on the high seasRough Medicine: Life and Death in the Age of Sail will open at the Western Australian Museum – Geraldton on Saturday, 10 September 2016. WA Museum CEO Alec Coles said the exhibition explores the fascinating history of how illness impacted upon and even shaped early sea voyages from the 17th Century until the advent of the steamship in the late 19th Century.Read more News Jane Rosevear
26 Aug 2016WA’s first Dutch connections on display at Shark Bay World Heritage Discovery CentreAn exhibition encompassing the stories of the first recorded European (Dutch) landing in Western Australia at Shark Bay will be on display at the Shark Bay World Heritage Discovery Centre from 27 August. The Accidental Encounters: the Dutch connection exhibition was developed by the Western Australian Museum in preparation for this year’s 400th anniversary of Dirk Hartog’s landing in Shark Bay.Read more News Flora Perrella
24 Aug 2016Calling all beachcombers – have you seen this sponge?Beachcombers, divers, swimmers and anglers are being asked to help the Western Australian Museum find examples of a very rare marine sponge, Agelas axifera, known only to the Champion Bay area in Geraldton. The Museum is hoping recent storms in the area might have washed the sponges onto the beach. WA Museum Head of Aquatic Zoology Dr Jane Fromont said the species was first described in 1911 from the holotype collected at Champion Bay in 1905 – the only known location of Agelas axifera worldwide.Read more News Sharna Craig