The Western Australian Museum (not to be confused with the WA Museum Boola Bardip in Northbridge) is WA’s most exciting cultural asset and includes six museums showcasing hundreds of exhibitions and events every year. Three museums are located in Perth and the other three in Albany, Geraldton and Kalgoorlie.
The WA Museum Boola Bardip is a fascinating place to visit any time of year, with five floors filled with ancient fossils, life-sized models of dinosaurs, the famous blue whale skeleton hanging from the ceiling and every night, the external walls of the Museum’s Old Gaol come alive with a projected kaleidoscope of artwork and visual storytelling.
The Maritime Museum is one of Perth’s top attractions for a reason and right next door, there is the popular Gage Roads bar with a massive playground for kids. Standing exhibitions include The Parry Endeavour, the yacht that took solo yachtsman Jon Sanders three times around the globe, and The Australia II, the racing yacht that won the America’s Cup from the United States in 1983. You can also get inside the Oberon Class Submarine HMAS Ovens, an authentic Cold War-era vessel, or visit the ‘Down Under Gallery’ which replicates walking on the ocean floor and seeing some of the rarest marine specimens.
Housed in one of Fremantle’s original buildings, the WA Shipwrecks Museum has some great standing exhibitions, showcasing 100 years of Dutch exploration and the restored remains of the massive VOC ship Batavia. The Batavia is the most famous of the WA shipwrecks and a highlight for kids.
There are three museums in regional WA. The Geraldton Museum includes a sequence of 3D films installation that mimics exploring the wrecks of HMAS Sydney (II) and HSK Kormoran, which currently lie 2,500m deep off the WA coast. There’s also the shipwrecks gallery featuring artefacts from four local Dutch shipwrecks and the Mid-West Gallery, which explores natural and social history through fossils plus prehistoric artifacts and tales from the local Yamaji people.
The Museum of the Goldfields in Kalgoorlie showcases the region’s mining heritage and in the underground vault, includes the largest display of gold bars and nuggets in WA. You can also explore the museum grounds and ethnobotanic garden, the authentic miner’s cottage and heritage-listed British Arms Hotel, which houses a reconstruction of an Edwardian dental surgery, high-class parlor and Union Banner Display.
The Great Southern Museum is best known for the replica of the 1826 Brig Amity. The Eclipse Building houses long-term exhibition collections, such as the Lighthouse Exhibition, Fishing Collection and the Fish Wall, but the showpiece is the Eclipse Island Optic, consisting of three-metre-high glass lenses rotating silently on a bed of mercury and lighting up the building. There’s also an old one-room, one-teacher school room and the discovery centre, which hosts a range of interactive, hands-on programs for all ages.
For a complete guide to exhibitions and events, visit the WA Museum website.