What's New

  • The Abrolhos Islands at a sunrise showing a reflection of the islands against the calm water

    2 Sep 2013

    Award-winning Abrolhos exhibition arrives in Fremantle

    The award-winning exhibition capturing a decade of social and environmental change within the small fishing communities of the Abrolhos Islands will go on display at the Western Australian Maritime Museum, Fremantle, from September 7.

    WA Museum executive director Dr Ian MacLeod said the museum is thrilled to host Seeing Change: A photographic story from Abrolhos fishers, named Best Temporary Exhibition under $20,000 at the Museums and Galleries National Awards (MAGNAs) in May.

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  • 27 Aug 2013

    Public to see more displays in new museum

    • State Government commits $6.5million in 2013-14 for new museum project
    • Museum to get advanced facilities to care for millions of exhibits
    • Welshpool storage facility essential component of new museum project

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  • 013888PD Hackett Hall, premises of the Public Library of Western Australia, James Street, Perth, 1913

    16 Aug 2013

    Celebrating 100 years of Hackett Hall!

    To celebrate the iconic Hackett Hall's 100th birthday on August 18, 2013, we've compiled a collection of images from the WA Museum and State Library archives showcasing the Hall's transition from the State Library's reading room between 1913 and 1984, to the home of the WA Land and People exhibition and beautiful venue and temporary exhibition space it is today.

    See Carnotaurus's big move from inside Hackett Hall to the foyer: museum.wa.gov.au/explore/galleries/renovating-hackett-hall

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    Photo Galleries
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  • A scientist wearing gloves examining some feathers with a pair of foreceps and a test tube

    9 Aug 2013

    DNA confirms elusive Night Parrot found

    Work at the Western Australian Museum’s recently acquired DNA laboratory has proved conclusively the Night Parrot – often referred to as the Holy Grail of ornithology – is not extinct.

    Queensland bird enthusiast John Young, who has been searching for the Night Parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis) for nearly 15 years, sent five feathers from a roost site he found within the Lake Eyre Basin to the Museum’s Molecular Systematics Unit for testing, convinced the birds he had been watching were indeed the elusive parrot.

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  • A series of ancient shark teeth assembled in a line

    7 Aug 2013

    Palaeontological detective work unravels evolution of megatooth sharks

    New discoveries of fossil material from the North West of Western Australia, France, USA and Sweden have revolutionised the early history of megatooth sharks.

    Skeletal remains and teeth between 95-80 million years old, described this week in the scientific journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, indicate the megatooth group - which ruled the oceans for 60 million years until the extinction of Otodus megalodon, the mother of all beasts, two million years ago - was far more diverse than previously thought.

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  • Aurelio Costarella standing next to two of his designs

    5 Aug 2013

    High fashion heats up at WA Museum!

    - Museum set to host stunning season of fashion
    - Two exhibitions salute renowned WA designer and Australian Fashion Week
    - Your backstage pass to the exclusive world of high fashion - free  

    The Western Australian Museum is set to host a season of fashion with two exhibitions saluting the best that Australian fashion has to offer.

    Aurelio Costarella: A 30 year retrospective and Frock Stars: Inside Australian Fashion Week will run concurrently from November 2 through until February 2014.

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  • Two people standing near the entrance to exhibition 'Debt of Honour'

    1 Aug 2013

    Geraldton’s last World War II Commando

    With the bombing of Darwin on 19 February 1942, the Second World War suddenly struck Australian shores.  On the same night, Japanese troops landed in East Timor, and for the 270 Australian soldiers of the 2/2nd Independent Company a remarkable ten-month guerrilla campaign began. Although vastly outnumbered, the 2/2nd commandos held down 10,000 crack Japanese troops. Corporal Tom Foster WX13202 from Geraldton was one of those men.

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  • Acropora sunset, Abrolhos 1983

    29 Jul 2013

    Patrick Baker: 36 years of shipwreck photography –Gallery 4

    Patrick Baker is the Western Australian Museum's shipwrecks photographer. This series of photo galleries explores his amazing career and catalogues the photos taken between 1970 - 2005. The fourth gallery has a heavy focus on object photography and 18th century Dutch shipwrecks.

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    Photo Galleries
    Western Australian Museum

  • Aboriginal artwork with bright, striking colours

    19 Jul 2013

    Unseen Aboriginal artwork headed to Albany

    Previously unseen artwork of one of Australia’s most respected Aboriginal artists, Jimmy Pike, will be on display at the Western Australian Museum – Albany from July 24.

    Jimmy Pike’s Artlines: You call it desert, we used to live there is a selection of vibrant felt-tip pen drawings depicting the spirit beings, flowers, stars and earthscapes of the Great Sandy Desert of Western Australia.

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  • Scientist sitting at a desk near a microscope

    3 Jul 2013

    WA spider scientist wins international award

    The Western Australian Museum’s Head of Terrestrial Zoology, Dr Mark Harvey, has been recognised for his outstanding service to the international arachnological community with the prestigious Pierre Bonnet Award, presented at the International Society of Arachnology’s (ISA) general meeting in Taiwan last week.

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  • Two men rolling a cannon down a long wooden pier

    1 Jul 2013

    Shipwreck month sets sail

    This month, the Western Australian Museum is celebrating the impressive work of its Maritime Archaeology department during the Month of Shipwrecks.

    At 9:30am every weekday throughout July, a new video, map, mini-site, photo gallery, interview or database will be available exclusively via the Western Australian Museum website.

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  • Diver exploring the wreck of the Batavia

    1 Jul 2013

    Month of Shipwrecks

    July 2013 is the Month of Shipwrecks.

    At 9:30am every weekday throughout the month a new video, map, mini-website, photo gallery, lecture, interview or database will be available exclusively on this website to reveal new insights about wrecks such as the Batavia, SS Xantho and James Matthews, or invite you behind-the-scenes to learn about our research and archaeology.

     

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    Online Exhibition
    Danny Murphy

  • An East Timorese boy carrying supplies accompanying an Australian solider during World War II

    27 Jun 2013

    Enduring Debt of Honour explored

    The incredible story of 270 Australian commandos who defied all odds to hold down more than 10,000 Japanese troops in East Timor during a critical point of World War II will be told at the Western Australian Museum – Geraldton from July 5.

    Debt of Honour: Australia’s First Commandos and East Timor recounts the little-known story of one of Australia’s most defining campaigns of the Second World War.

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  • Batavia archway stones laid out after being raised from the site

    24 Jun 2013

    Batavia Discovery 50th Anniversary

    Our maritime archaeology department recently shared a selection of images from the early expeditions and excavations of Batavia (1629) on their Facebook page to celebrate the 50th anniversary of discovering the wreck site (June 4th 2013).

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  • A curator showing an excited school student a live frog

    21 Jun 2013

    800 schools to get new WA Frog Watch teaching kit

    A brand new educational resource that teaches WA children about WA frogs and their precious ecosystems – to be provided free to more than 800 WA schools – was launched at the Western Australian Museum today.

    The Frog Watch Schools Kit is a teacher’s resource containing four big, colourful books and a poster, aimed at encouraging students to become ambassadors for frogs, biodiversity and the environment. Looking at frog species found in the South West of WA, including Perth, it is the latest initiative from the Frog Watch program developed jointly by the WA Museum and Alcoa.

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  • Frog Watch Logo over a pond of lilypads and reeds

    19 Jun 2013

    Alcoa Frog Watch

    Alcoa Frog Watch is dedicated to providing information on all aspects of Western Australian frogs.

    This site provides a comprehensive repository of frog distribution, frog habitats, frog information and all other aspects of information about frogs in Western Australia, including building frog friendly gardens, participating in tadpole exchange programs and acquiring frog field guides and CDs.

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    Online Exhibition
    Danny Murphy

  • Two women from the WA Museum proudly displaying their awards

    17 Jun 2013

    Western Australian Museum – Kalgoorlie-Boulder takes out top prize

    On Saturday 15 June, the Western Australian Museum – Kalgoorlie-Boulder took out the Australia’s Gold Outback Tourism Award at the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Chamber of Commerce and Industry Business Awards. The Museum is extremely proud to be recognised in this category, and will happily welcome anyone to our Museum in Kalgoorlie to see our award-winning exhibitions and displays.

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    Western Australian Museum

  • An island fishing settlement reflecting on a calm ocean

    11 Jun 2013

    Albany to welcome award-winning Abrolhos exhibition

    An award-winning exhibition capturing a decade of social and environmental change within the small fishing community of the Abrolhos Islands will go on display at the Western Australian Museum – Albany from June 26.

    WA Museum – Albany regional manager Rachael Wilsher-Saa said the Museum is thrilled to host the Seeing Change: A photographic story from Abrolhos fishers exhibition, named the Best Temporary Exhibition under $20,000 at the Museums and Galleries National Awards (MAGNAs) in May.

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