Read detailed stories behind our objects, our exhibitions, and explorations into maritime science and archaeology.
Living Waters: Shellwork in Indigenous Art and Culture
16 Mar 2016
Discover how traditional Indigenous shellwork techniques are being embraced to explore contemporary reflections about sea, sailing and water.
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Tug Boats: The Loss of the Working Harbour
03 Feb 2016
Powerful little boats with big hearts and heaps of attitude. Explore striking photographs of tug boats hard at work when Sydney Harbour was primarily a place of industry.
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Submarine AE1
14 Sep 2015
Discover the story of Australia's most enduring maritime mystery — the loss of the navy’s first submarine AE1 in 1914.
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Percy Hockings: watercolours from the north
09 Sep 2015
Find out about Percy Hockings’ rare collection of watercolours documenting the people, plants and pearling luggers of Thursday Island.
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Black Armada
17 Aug 2015
On 17 August 1945, Indonesia declared its independence as a nation. Learn more about Australia’s role during the Indonesian independence struggle and the so-called 'Black Armada'.
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Australian Lighthouses
14 Aug 2015
Learn about the 100-year history of Commonwealth lighthouses and explore some of Australia's famous lighthouses – the tallest, the oldest and the most isolated – located all around our vast coastline.
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A fishing boat called Freedom: the story of Tu Do
30 Apr 2015
Learn about the amazing journey of Vietnamese refugee boat Tu Do after the Fall of Saigon, and its restoration at the Australian National Maritime Museum.
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First in at Gallipoli: submarine AE2
23 Apr 2015
Read about the harrowing voyage of Australian submarine AE2 during the Gallipoli campaign, and its rediscovery a century later in the Sea of Mamara.
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Shackleton: Escape from Antarctica
30 Mar 2015
Follow Sir Ernest Shackleton’s famous Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914 through rare historic photographs, maps and artefacts.
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Turning the Plastic Tide
05 Mar 2015
Plastic is a versatile material we've embraced for 70 years and it's choking life in our oceans. By 2025, the oceans could contain one tonne of plastic rubbish for every three tonnes of fish.
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