31 May 2016Dinosaurs and megafauna in the limelight at Perth Concert Hall From the red desert of Australia to the red carpet of the Perth Concert Hall, a collection of objects showcasing Australia’s ancient history are now on display in the Perth Concert Hall foyer. The Western Australian Museum has partnered with the Perth Concert Hall to display a selection of objects from its Earth and Planetary Sciences collection while the Museum's Perth site undergoes the biggest redevelopment in its 125-year history. Read more News Sharna Craig
24 May 2016Celebrate Jon Sanders’ epic voyage at WA Maritime Museum’s Open DayCelebrate Western Australian yachtsman Jon Sanders’ world record triple circumnavigation of the world at the WA Maritime Museum this week. Tomorrow, 25 May, marks 30 years since Jon Sanders departed Fremantle in Parry Endeavour, the 14-metre sloop that took him across 131,500 km of ocean and is now on display at the Maritime Museum. WA Museum CEO Alec Coles said the Museum is proud to have the yacht in its Collection.Read more News Sharna Craig
17 May 2016WA Museum – Perth hosts untold story about battle for AustraliaThe Western Australian Museum – Perth will showcase a large collection of rare artefacts when Battle for Australia: An Untold Story goes on display tomorrow. WA Museum CEO Alec Coles said the exhibition tells important Australian stories about attacks, loss and sacrifice during World War Two.Read more News Sharna Craig
12 May 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 – Geraldton on Saturday 14 May 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. WA Museum – Geraldton Regional Manager Catherine Belcher said it is estimated at least 150,000 adoptions took place from the 1950s-1970s and a significant number of them were forced.Read more News Sharna Craig
5 May 2016Nature photography exhibition to show at the WA Museum – Kalgoorlie-BoulderThe 2015 Australian Geographic ANZANG Nature Photographer of the Year collection will open at the Western Australian Museum – Kalgoorlie-Boulder this weekend, with Western Australian photographers winning two of the categories. The competition’s overall winning image ‘Feathered Symmetry’ by David Stowe will be on display. Captured in New South Wales, it shows a white-winged tern (Chlidonias leucopterusI) stretching its wings, ready for take-off.Read more News Sharna Craig
5 May 2016The Batavia and recent discoveriesThe story of the infamous Batavia shipwreck continues to unfold with new perspectives and discoveries. Members of the public are invited to join local historian Dr Howard Gray and WA Museum Maritime Archaeology Curator Corioli Souter for an afternoon of back-to-back lectures about the Batavia and recent findings at the Western Australian Museum – Geraldton next week. WA Museum – Geraldton Regional Manager Catherine Belcher said the lectures are part of the 2016 WA Heritage Festival.Read more News Sharna Craig
4 May 2016WA Museum luminary honoured in retirement The Western Australian Museum has conferred its highest honour upon retiring Executive Director of Fremantle Museums and Collections, Dr Ian MacLeod – that of Fellow of the Western Australian Museum. Dr MacLeod officially retires this week, after 38 years with the Museum. WA Museum CEO Alec Coles said Dr MacLeod had an outstanding international reputation in the field of metals conservation, and had made a truly significant contribution to the Museum, particularly in the fields of shipwreck conservation and the preservation of Aboriginal rock art.Read more News Sharna Craig
19 Apr 2016WA Museum scientist heading for the AntarcticWestern Australian Museum scientist Dr Nerida Wilson has been selected to join an international team of 55 researchers from 30 countries to take part in a three-month expedition to circumnavigate the Antarctic, studying climate change and pollution in the Southern Ocean. The expedition, which will depart in December, is being organised by the newly formed Swiss Polar Institute, established to study the Earth’s poles and the critical impact of change on those extreme environments, to identify the global challenges that lay ahead.Read more News Flora Perrella
5 Apr 2016Children get free entry to Maritime Museum ahead of school holidaysChanges to general admission fees at the WA Maritime Museum will give children under 15 years free entry to the Museum’s permanent galleries, just in time for the April school holidays. WA Museum CEO Alec Coles said the new fee structure was being introduced from 9 April, 2016.Read more News Flora Perrella
1 Apr 2016WA’s first Dutch connections on display at Carnarvon Library and Art GalleryAn exhibition encompassing the stories of the first recorded European (Dutch) landings in Shark Bay, Western Australia, will be on display at the Carnarvon Library and Art Gallery from Tuesday 5 April. 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
14 Mar 2016Compelling WA press photography on displayThe work of WA’s most exciting news photographers has been captured in the 2016 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 Flora Perrella
9 Mar 2016Stories about Indigenous Australians at war presented at the Western Australian Museum – Albany Indigenous Australians at war from the Boer War to the present opens at the Western Australian Museum – Albany this week. This touring exhibition from the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne presents Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders’ stories from all over Australia, including from the Great Southern region of Western Australia. WA Museum – Albany Regional Manager Rachael Wilsher-Saa said it is really important to acknowledge Aboriginal men and women who served their country during wars.Read more News Sharna Craig
8 Mar 2016New search for 5th Old Dutch shipwreck The Western Australian Museum is embarking on a new 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. An aerial magnetometer survey of a section of the Pelsaert Group has begun, funded by long-time Museum supporter and Chairman of Austal Ltd, John Rothwell. The survey is looking for magnetic anomalies that would indicate the presence of another, as yet undiscovered, historic shipwreck.Read more News Flora Perrella
2 Mar 2016New exhibition at the WA Maritime Museum explores role of Royal Australian Navy in First World WarTouring exhibition War at Sea – the Navy in WWI opens at the WA Maritime Museum in Fremantle on 12 March. Amongst the stories told is that of Australia’s first submarine AE1 which disappeared while patrolling the seas near present day New Guinea on 14 September 1914. No trace of the vessel or its 35 hands has been found to this day. WA Museum CEO Alec Coles said it is important to remember and recognise the contribution and commitment of Australian sailors and submariners in the First World War.Read more News Flora Perrella
25 Feb 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 – Kalgoorlie-Boulder on Friday 26 February. 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. WA Museum – Kalgoorlie-Boulder Regional Manager Zoe Scott said it is estimated at least 150,000 adoptions took place from the 1950s-1970s and a significant number of them were forced.Read more News Sharna Craig
22 Feb 2016Recent First World War discoveries at the WA Museum – GeraldtonVisitors to the Western Australian Museum – Geraldton will have the opportunity to view the Australian War Memorial’s extraordinary travelling exhibition Remember me: the lost diggers of Vignacourt from 27 February 2016. WA Museum CEO Alec Coles said it was a privilege to display the unique First World War exhibition, an exquisite collection of black and white images printed from the original glass-plate negatives, as part of the Museum’s Centenary of Service commemorative calendar.Read more News Sharna Craig
19 Feb 2016Two new ancient kangaroo species discovered Two new species of extinct kangaroos that could be the ancestors of all modern kangaroos and wallabies in Australia, have been discovered by a team of scientists from the Western Australian Museum, the University of Queensland, and the University of New South Wales. The new species were described from fossils – including skulls – collected from the Riversleigh World Heritage area in north-western Queensland last century.Read more News Sharna Craig
11 Feb 2016Artists sought for public art at New Museum $1.6 million allocated for public art at the new museum Public art to reflect and interpret the stories of Western Australia Artist teams to develop either a single work or multiple works Artist teams are being asked to register their interest in creating the public art for Western Australia’s new museum. Culture and the Arts Minister John Day said the public art would reflect and interpret the stories of WA.Read more News Western Australian Museum
4 Feb 2016Four new deep-sea Xenoturbella species discovered Four new species of Xenoturbella have been discovered living in the deep waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean by a team of scientists from the Western Australian Museum, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium & Research Institute in the United States.Read more News Flora Perrella
19 Jan 2016Live music and harbour sunsets at the WA Maritime Museum Fremantle will add another string to its creative bow when the WA Maritime Museum opens its doors to live music and sunset bars from Sunday 31 January. Western Australian Museum CEO Alec Coles said the Museum has partnered with RTRFM to bring Harbour Sundays to Fremantle for five consecutive weeks. “We will be hosting live music on the balcony of the Maritime Museum with a spectacular view across the river and out to the Indian Ocean. There will be a licenced bar to help people fully enjoy the entertainment and the stunning sunsets!” Mr Coles said.Read more News Flora Perrella