9 Jun 2011Extraordinary Stories - just the first chapterThe Western Australian Museum is delighted to announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the British Museum to link the two organizations for the next five years with the first phase to be a unique exhibition here in Perth.Read more News Western Australian Museum
8 Jun 2011WA: Reaching for the starsWestern Australia has been short listed to host the international Square Kilometre Array project, or SKA, which is set to transform our understanding of the origins and evolution of the universe and explore fundamental questions in contemporary science.Read more News Western Australian Museum
1 Jun 2011Ghost towns in the shire of Kalgoorlie-BoulderKalgoorlie – Boulder is surrounded by some 40 ghost towns. These old gold rush settlements date from as early as 1892 and have all but disappeared, leaving little to mark their passing. Scott Wilson, President of the Eastern Goldfields Historical Society, will discuss the mindset of people who chose to head to these frontier towns, how the towns were formed, what happened to those who left and to the buildings left behind.Read more News Western Australian Museum
31 May 2011Fossils, Sea Levels and Climate ChangeThe Western Australian Museum’s Collection Manager of the Simpson Mineral Collection, Dr Geoff Deacon, will present a public lecture on the use of microfossils and macrofossils in understanding climate and sea-level change in WA. This lecture is particularly topical with climate change currently standing as one of the major issues discussed throughout the World. Consistently news reports maintain that our planet is warming and that sea-levels are rising faster than ever before.Read more News Western Australian Museum
27 May 2011WA Museum marine naturalist to talk about the things that stingWestern Australian Museum naturalist Corey Whisson’s job takes him to places along the State’s12,500 kilometre coastline rarely seen by human beings.Along the way, he has become familiar with the bewildering array of animals that inhabit the State’s complex marine environments, including many with excellent methods of protecting themselves.Mr Whisson said that while our marine waters might look spectacular, they are not without their dangers.Read more News Western Australian Museum
23 May 2011Story of fight for Indigenous rights comes to WA Museum Kalgoorlie-BoulderFrom Little Things Big Things Grow: Fighting for Indigenous Rights 1920-1970 is a travelling exhibition that opens at Western Australian Museum – Kalgoorlie-Boulder on Saturday 28 May at 5.30pm. The exhibition is developed and presented by the National Museum of Australia and features some of the key moments of Aboriginal activism in Australia.“From Little Things Big Things Grow: Fighting for Indigenous Rights 1920-1970 tells a story unknown to most Australians – but painfully familiar to a few,” said exhibition curator Jay Arthur.Read more News Western Australian Museum
23 May 2011Gold and Greed: Kalgoorlie’s famous murders in the GoldfieldsWA Museum – Kalgoorlie-Boulder and WA Police have teamed up to present a program of three talks about the murder, mystery and intrigue of policing the Goldfields on Sunday 29 May.Gold and Greed will bring to life Kalgoorlie’s most famous murders, that of Inspectors Pitman and Walsh, as well as tales of Goldfields police and activities of the Gold Stealing Detection Unit.WA Police Assistant Commissioner Regional WA Michael Burnby will be speaking in detail about the Pitman and Walsh murders of 1926, giving a fresh look at one of the most gruesome crimes of the day.Read more News Western Australian Museum
17 May 2011Guano and pearls, steamships and suffragettesCharles Broadhurst was one of Western Australia’s earliest colourful and controversial entrepreneurs, involved in the State’s early pearling, shipping and pastoral industries. Western Australian Museum Maritime Archaeology curator and Fremantle Notre Dame University School of Arts and Science adjunct professor, Dr Michael (Mack) McCarthy will give a public talk about the life and times of this influential WA family as part of The Harry Butler: In the Wild West lecture series.Read more News Western Australian Museum
16 May 2011Art meets science on the Kimberley coastThe hidden world of some of the tiniest creatures in the Kimberley will come to life in a captivating collection of macro photography on show at the WA Museum – Maritime, Fremantle, until July 28 2011. Line of Sight is proudly sponsored Rey Resources Limited and is a compilation of nature photographs by Broome photographer Peter Strain who, throughout his 30 year career in film, television, theatre and music production, has maintained a passion for photography.Read more News Western Australian Museum
12 May 2011Migration to Western Australia 1829-1972Public lecture: WA Museum – AlbanyMore than one third of all Western Australians were born overseas, arriving in Western Australia from 1829 onwards as migrants, child migrants, displaced persons, asylum seekers and refugees.Western Australian Museum Associate Dr Nonja Peters, who arrived from Holland in August 1949, has been involved in the story of migration for many years, reminding us that were those who arrived with little more than the clothes on their backs and a burning need to start over.Read more News Western Australian Museum
9 May 2011WA: Reaching for the starsWestern Australia has been short listed to host the international Square Kilometre Array project, or SKA, which is set to transform our understanding of the origins and evolution of the universe and explore fundamental questions in contemporary science. If built in Australia, the SKA will be the largest single endeavour in the nation’s scientific history and will underpin Western Australia’s technological, scientific and educational interests for the next 50 years. Read more News Western Australian Museum
6 Apr 2011WA: Reaching for the starsWestern Australia has been short listed to host the international Square Kilometre Array project, or SKA, which is set to transform our understanding of the origins and evolution of the universe and explore fundamental questions in contemporary science.If built in Australia, the SKA will be the largest single endeavour in the nation’s scientific history and will underpin Western Australia’s technological, scientific and educational interests for the next 50 years.Read more News Western Australian Museum
15 Mar 2011X|Media|Lab Perth calls for creative projects and ideas with $60,000 worth of grants availableX|Media|Lab is an international thinktank that the WA Museum will be heavily involved in participating and promoting.X|Media|Lab is calling for submissions from digital and creative industry entrepreneurs to participate in a rare opportunity to workshop their projects with some of the world’s most successful new media experts, as part of the inaugural X|Media|Lab Perth, held from 15-17 April 2011 at the new State Theatre Centre.Read more News Western Australian Museum
11 Mar 2011Partial day site closuresBefore you visit, please note the following!So that all our staff can take part in important planning meetings and staff development events, some of our sites will be closed for half a day during March and April.The Museum sincerely regrets any inconvenience that the closures may cause.The opening times for sites will be as follows on the dates specified:Western Australian Museum - GeraldtonThursday 24 March, 2011 12:30pm – 4.00pmRead more News Western Australian Museum
20 Feb 2011Priceless Dutch shipwreck collection handed to the WA MuseumAn agreement signed almost four decades ago between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Australia has resulted in Western Australia receiving a priceless collection of historic artefacts from four 17th and 18th century ships wrecked off the State's coast.Read more News Western Australian Museum
16 Feb 2011Female criminals and Australia after WWI The Western Australian Museum opened two very different exhibitions on Valentine’s Day. Femme Fatale: The female criminal, offers a rare insight into some of Australia’s wildest women and Shell-shocked: Australia after armistice which looks at the personal impact of war on Australians. Not for the faint-hearted, Femme Fatale explores criminology, the justice system, religion and myth, popular culture and case studies of some of Australia’s most notorious female criminals.Read more News Western Australian Museum
14 Feb 2011Queen Mary 2 docks in FremantleThe 151,400-tonne passenger ship Queen Mary 2 sails into Fremantle on Thursday morning 17 February 2011 at approximately 11.30am, and will be departing around 7.00pm that day. While visiting Fremantle Port, the Western Australian Museum – Maritime will have a prime view and position to see this amazing vessel. To mark the occasion, the WA Museum cafe will be serving wines and beers, as well as coffee and meals on the wharf and docks throughout the entire day. Read more News Western Australian Museum
3 Feb 2011New fundraising head for WA MuseumThe Western Australian Museum has appointed a new director to head its Foundation. Ms Jane Harris returns to her home State to take up this key role with WA’s largest cultural institution and brings to the position a wealth of experience in the not-for-profit sector in leadership, strategic planning, marketing, corporate partnership development and philanthropy. Ms Harris will lead the WA Museum Foundation as it seeks to encourage public investment in the organisation through corporate partnerships, donations, gifts and bequests. Read more News Western Australian Museum
2 Feb 2011Head of WA Museum receives OBEWestern Australian Museum chief executive officer Alec Coles has been presented with an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace. Mr Coles, who relocated to Western Australia in March last year, was awarded the OBE in recognition for his services to museums - particularly for his work as director of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums where he worked on the creation of the Great North Museum in Newcastle upon Tyne. Read more News Western Australian Museum
2 Feb 2011Dr Harry Butler – The application of science to our livesRenowned conservationist and naturalist Dr Harry Butler will begin the Western Australian Museum’s 2011 Harry Butler lecture series: In the Wild West, with his public lecture The application of science to our lives. Dr Butler’s lecture will be held at the WA Museum – Maritime on Friday 17 February 2011, and looks at how translating science into applied science and technology can change our world today and in the future. Read more News Western Australian Museum