Maritime history boats and watercraftCollections | Updated 1 decade agoThe Museum’s Watercraft Collection comprises of around eighty watercraft, ranging from a freezer lid that was used as a life raft to an Oberon submarine, HMAS Ovens. The collection is one of the largest in Australia and has been loosely classified into four main collecting areas: Indigenous craft representing Aboriginal and Indonesian watercraft, commercial boats used for fishing, pearling, whaling, etcetera (these vessels have usually been privately owned), service craft that have been used for public service such as water police, pilot boats, fisheries patrol vessels, and recreational and leisure craft that have been used for competition sailing or recreation. Despite these specific collection categories, during the lifetime of a boat it may be used for many purposes and have many owners and subsequently, these categories may overlap. Number of items 80