Australian National Maritime Museum
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The Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) is a
One of six museums directly operated by the federal government, the ANMM is the only one located outside of the
History
Of the six museums operated directly by the federal government (the Australian National Maritime Museum, the
Development
In June 1985, the federal government announced the establishment of a national museum focusing on Australia's maritime history and the nation's ongoing involvement and dependence on the sea.[2] Proposals for the creation of such a museum had been under consideration over the preceding years.[3] After lobbying by New South Wales Premier Neville Wran, the decision was made to situate the new museum at Darling Harbour, and construct it as part of the area's redevelopment.[2][3] The building of the ANMM was seen by both the federal and New South Wales State governments as an important feature of the redevelopment, as it would be a major drawcard, and help fuel the commercial success of the precinct.[4]
The museum building was designed by Philip Cox, Richardson Taylor & Partners.[5] The roof was shaped to invoke the image of billowing sails: the corrugated metal roof stands over 25 metres (82 ft) tall on the west side, but drops significantly on the east.[5]
During development, the museum ran into a series of difficulties. In March 1998, the three top members of the ANMM interim council were sacked by the federal government and replaced.[3] Later in the year, the Department for the Arts informed the museum that its staff would be reduced by 30% and it would undergo budget cuts, forcing the Australian National Maritime Museum to rely on contracted security and conservation staff, along with volunteer guides and attendants.[3] The acceptance of a US$5 million grant for a dedicated gallery showing the links between the US and Australia resulted in the displacement of much of the staff and research areas.[3] Most of these were later established in the nearby Wharf 7 building.[citation needed]
The museum was initially slated to open in 1988, but by October that year, construction delays had pushed the planned opening date to September 1989, and the project was already $12.5 million over the $30 million budget.[3] Construction was completed on 17 November 1989; the cost of the museum's construction had increased to $70 million, and although the federal government was willing to pay the initial $30 million, there were disagreements between the state and federal governments over who had to supply the additional $40 million.[6] It was resolved that New South Wales was responsible for the additional funding, and in October 1990, the museum building was handed over to the federal government.[7] The Australian National Maritime Museum was opened on 30 November 1991.[1]
Operating history
In order to achieve commercial sustainability, the Australian National Maritime Museum was directed by the federal government to institute entry fees:[8] the second Australian national museum to do so after Questacon was opened in 1988.[9] The entry fee for the museum itself was dropped in 2004 (although access to the museum ships was still charged), then was re-added in December 2011.[10]
During the museum's first ten years of operation, 3.3 million visitors attended.[1]
In 2010, London's The Sunday Times listed the Australian National Maritime Museum in its "World's 10 Coolest Museums".[10]
At the start of 2014, the Australian National Maritime Museum announced that it would build a pavilion to showcase exhibits related to the Royal Australian Navy.[11] The pavilion, which is located near the museum's naval vessels, was launched on 8 November 2015 under the name "Action Stations".[11]
In 2019, the museum underwent an extensive modernisation of its branding. Design firm Frost*collective was engaged to create a new, simplified logo and branding scheme, which was then implemented across staff uniforms, advertising, exterior building signage, websites and the museum's regular publication, Signals.[12][13][14]
Directors
Order | Officeholder | Position title | Start date | End date | Term in office | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Kevin Sumption | Director | 2012 | February 2022 | ||
2 | Daryl Karp | Director | 4 July 2022 | present | [15] |
Galleries and vessels
Galleries
There are several permanent exhibitions at the museum, each with different themes:
- Shaped by the Sea
- Explores maritime
- Passengers
- Looks at the journeys made to Australia by various groups, from the original settlers to war brides, refugees, and cruise ship visitors.
- Navy
- Examines the role of the HMVS Nelson, and a Fleet Air Arm Sikorsky S-70B-2 Seahawk helicopter suspended from the ceiling.[18]
- Under Southern Skies
- Explores efforts to traverse and chart the waters around Australia made by various navigators throughout history, including Aboriginal Australians, Makassan traders, Polynesian seafarers and European explorers.[19] Formerly the Navigators gallery.
In addition, there are four other gallery spaces in the museum. The Tasman Light gallery contains the original lenses from the Tasman Island Lighthouse,[20] and is used for temporary photographic exhibitions and as hireable space for functions. The other three galleries (two along the eastern side of the top level, and a third offset from the main body of the museum) are used separately or together to host temporary exhibitions.
Several other items are on display inside the museum, but not associated with any particular gallery. These include
Museum ships
The Australian National Maritime Museum's collection of
During the mid-1980s, it was proposed that a
The
A replica of the
Other vessels on display (but not open for public boarding) include:
- HMAS Advance, one of twenty Attack-class patrol boats built by the RAN during the 1960s to patrol Australia's northern waters.[25] Advance served from 1968 until 1988, then was transferred to the Australian National Maritime Museum.[25] The patrol boat is in operational condition.[25]
- Akarana, a New Zealand racing yacht built to compete in Australia's centenary races, and restored as New Zealand's bicentenary gift.[33]
- Bareki, the last timber-built tugboat in service with the NSW Maritime Services Board.[34] The tugboat was built in 1962, and primarily used for dredging and towing work between Port Kembla and Newcastle.[34] Bareki serves as the museum's active tugboat.[34]
- The lightship lightvessel (effectively a floating lighthouse) built during 1916 and 1917.[33] The vessel operated in the Gulf of Carpentaria, off Sandy Cape, Queensland, and in Bass Strait during a career which ended in 1983.[35] In 1987, the vessel was donated to the museum collection.[35]
- John Lewis, one of the last pearling luggers to operate in Australian waters.[33]
- Kathleen Gillett, a double-ended ketch built for an Australian sailor from designs by
- MV Krait, a fishing trawler used during World War II for Operation Jaywick, a commando operation to scuttle Japanese vessels in Singapore harbour.[25] She was sold off after the war and used as a workboat for the Indonesian timber trade, but was rediscovered by Australian special forces veterans in 1962.[25] Krait was acquired by the Australian War Memorial, then transferred on loan to the museum in 1988.[25]
- Sekar Aman, an Indonesian perahu.[34]
- Tu Do, a Vietnamese vessel used by 31 South Vietnamese refugees to reach Darwin in 1975, following the end of the Vietnam War.[34] Tu Do was acquired by the museum in 1990.[34]
- MB 172, a former officer's launch built by the RAN in 1937, and used primarily in Darwin.[34] The vessel is active, and used to transport museum staff and guests.[34] The vessel unofficially carries the name Epic Lass, as the launch's restoration was sponsored by Epiglass.[38]
Other facilities
The 1874-built
The Vaughan Evans Library is the research library attached to the ANMM, and is a collecting agency on maritime matters.
The Welcome Wall is a bronze wall located on the northern side of the museum, which lists the names of immigrants who arrived by sea to settle in Australia. Having a name engraved on the wall requires an application to the museum, and the paying of a fee.[39] On 21 March 2021, Governor-General David Hurley AC DSC (Rtd) declared the Welcome Wall as Australia's "National Monument to Migration".[39] In 2021, the wall contained more than 30,000 names.[39]
A Harding safety
The
Other collections
The museum has over 1,000
See also
References
- ^ a b c Meacham, How the museum boss got engaged
- ^ a b ABS, Year Book Australia, 1991, p. 331
- ^ a b c d e f Mendelssohm, Maritime Museum has that sinking feeling
- ^ Witcomb, Re-Imagining the Museum, p. 27
- ^ a b MacMahon, The architecture of East Australia, p. 81
- ^ Totaro, Museum no-one wants to pay for
- ^ O'Brien, Finally, smooth sailing for museum
- ^ Witcomb, Re-Imagining the Museum, p. 48
- ^ NSTC, Report of Activities 1988–89, p. 34
- ^ a b Meacham, Museum sets a course for the future
- ^ a b Australian Associated Press (30 January 2014). "New pavilion for maritime museum". The Australian. Archived from the original on 19 June 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
- ^ "Australian National Maritime Museum". Frost*collective. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
- ^ "New Identity". Australian National Maritime Museum. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
- ^ "Rebrand of Australian National Maritime Museum By Frost*collective". Creative Review. 1 April 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
- ^ "New Director appointed at Australian National Maritime Museum". 31 March 2022. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
- ^ "Shaped by the Sea". Australian National Maritime Museum. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
- ^ Hundley, USA Gallery Revisited, p. 45
- ^ "Seahawk Helicopter". Australian National Maritime Museum. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
- ^ "Under Southern Skies". Australian National Maritime Museum. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
- ^ Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of Australia: Tasmania". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 11 August 2011.
- ^ Coombes, Tall Ships, pp. 36–37
- ^ Coombes, Tall Ships, p. 37
- ^ Coombes, Tall Ships, pp. 37–88
- ^ Coombes, Tall Ships, pp. 38–40
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Gunton, Travellers in Time, p. 82
- ^ Shaw, HMAS Vampire, p. 13
- ^ Shaw, HMAS Onslow, p. 6
- ^ Casey, Onslow finds new home
- ^ Shaw, HMAS Vampire, p. 22
- ^ a b Walsh, Soviet sub penetrates Sydney Harbour!, p. 105
- ^ "Historic tall ship replica Duyfken leaving Perth for new home in Sydney". ABC News. 21 November 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
- ^ "Sail Sydney Harbour on historic tall ship Duyfken". Mirage News. 14 July 2022. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
- ^ a b c Gunton, Travellers in Time, p. 80
- ^ a b c d e f g h Gunton, Travellers in Time, p. 83
- ^ a b c d Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of Australia: Northern New South Wales". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 11 August 2011.
- ^ a b Gunton, Travellers in Time, p. 81
- ^ Gunton, Travellers in Time, pp. 81–2
- ^ a b c "Small Vessels". Australian National Maritime Museum. Archived from the original on 15 December 2011. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
- ^ a b c "National Monument to Migration".
- ^ "The new home of Maritime education". defenceconnect.com.au. September 2017. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
- S2CID 167135188.
Sources
Books
- OCLC 221660900.
- Coombes, John (2006). Tall Ships: The Sixteen Square Riggers of Australia and New Zealand. Wollombi, NSW: Exisle Publishing. OCLC 85019816.
- Gunton, George (1996). Travellers in Time: Living History in Australia. Yarram, VIC: Oceans Enterprises. OCLC 38391126.
- MacMahon, Bill (2001). The architecture of East Australia: an architectural history in 432 individual presentations. Edition Axel Menges. OCLC 759695215.
- NSTC (1989). National Science and Technology Centre Report of Activities 1988–89. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia. ISBN 0-644-10772-3.
- Shaw, Lindsey (2005). HMAS Onslow: cold war warrior. Sydney, NSW: Australian National Maritime Museum. OCLC 225390609.
- Shaw, Lindsey (2007). HMAS Vampire: Last of the big guns (2nd ed.). Sydney, NSW: Australian National Maritime Museum. OCLC 271312410.
- Witcomb, Andrea (2004). Re-Imagining the Museum: Beyond the Mausoleum. Museum Meanings. Routledge. OCLC 50166657.
News and journal articles
- Casey, Annie (3 May 1999). "Onslow finds new home". Navy News. Archived from the original on 11 November 2012. Retrieved 20 September 2008.
- Cornford, Phillip (5 February 2000). "Cottee sells First Lady to museum". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 15.
- "Go west: Australia II heads for home". The Sydney Morning Herald. 27 October 2000. p. 3.
- Hundley, Paul (September 2010). "USA Gallery Revisited". Signals (92). Australian National Maritime Museum: 45–8.
- Meacham, Steve (3 December 2001). "How the museum boss got engaged". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 14.
- Meacham, Steve (16 November 2011). "Museum sets a course for the future". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 18 November 2011.
- Mendelssohn, Joanna (15 October 1999). "Maritime Museum has that sinking feeling". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 13.
- O'Brien, Geraldine (3 October 1990). "Finally, smooth sailing for museum". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 5.
- Totaro, Paola (29 November 1989). "Museum no-one wants to pay for". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 14.
- Walsh, Don (April 1998). "Soviet sub penetrates Sydney Harbour!". Proceedings. 124 (4). United States Naval Institute: 105.
External links
- Official website of the Australian National Maritime Museum
- Online Catalogue of the Australian National Maritime Museum
- Flickr Account of the Australian National Maritime Museum
- Australian National Maritime Museum at Sydney.com
- "Australian National Maritime Museum – Vessels". Australian National Maritime Museum. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
- Australian National Maritime Museum at Google Cultural Institute