Western Australian Museum facts for kids
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| Established | 1891 |
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| Location | Perth, Fremantle, Albany, Geraldton, Kalgoorlie-Boulder |
| Collection size | 8,233,264 |
| Visitors | 971,528 (2021) |
The Western Australian Museum is a super cool place to learn about history, science, and culture! It's a special organization created by a law called the Museum Act 1969. This museum isn't just one building; it has six main locations across Western Australia.
The biggest museum is WA Museum Boola Bardip in the Perth Cultural Centre. Other awesome spots include the WA Maritime Museum and WA Shipwrecks Museum in Fremantle. You can also visit the Museum of the Great Southern in Albany, the Museum of Geraldton in Geraldton, and the Museum of the Goldfields in Kalgoorlie-Boulder.
Contents
Discover the Museum's Past
The Western Australian Museum started way back in 1891. It was first called the Geological Museum. It was located in the Old Perth Gaol and only had rocks and minerals.
In 1892, they added more cool stuff. This included items about different cultures and animals. By 1897, it officially became the Western Australian Museum and Art Gallery. The museum even hired people like J. T. Tunney to collect animals and tools from Indigenous people across the state.
In 1959, the plant collection moved to a new place. The museum and art gallery then became separate. The museum started focusing on natural sciences, human cultures, old discoveries, and Western Australia's history. In the 1960s and 1970s, it also began to study old shipwrecks and manage Aboriginal sites.
There were plans to build a new museum in 2008. The government wanted to spend $500 million on it. But these plans were later stopped.
In 2012, the government promised to build a new museum. It would be at the Perth Cultural Centre. This new museum would cost $428 million and be ready by 2019-2020. The old Perth museum closed in June 2016 to make way for the new one.
During this time, important upgrades happened at the museum's Collection and Research Centre (CRC) in Welshpool. This is where the museum keeps its research labs and collections. The upgrades helped store collections better and prepare them for display.
Explore Museum Locations
The Western Australian Museum has six museum branches. It also has four special places for its collections. The museum even offers programs to reach people all over Western Australia.
Perth Museum: Old and New
The Original Perth Museum
The Geological Museum first opened on September 9, 1891. It was in the Old Gaol building. This building is still a big part of the Western Australian Museum in Perth. It's one of the oldest buildings in the state!
Soon after, the museum added more items. These included geological, cultural, and animal specimens. In 1897, it became the Western Australian Museum and Art Gallery. From 1971 to 2003, many collections were in a large building on Francis Street. This building closed due to safety concerns and was later taken down.
The museum's location on James Street was always important. Many big exhibits were shown there. Exhibitions on fashion, nature, and history brought in many visitors. For example, A Day in Pompeii attracted over 100,000 people!
Some of the cool permanent exhibits at the old Perth museum included:
- WA Land and People: This showed Western Australia's story. It went from dinosaurs to Indigenous history and even today's environmental issues.
- Diamonds to Dinosaurs: This exhibit explored 12 billion years of WA's past. It featured moon rocks, tiny diamonds, and dinosaur skeletons.
- Katta Djinoong: This exhibit shared the history and culture of Aboriginal peoples in Western Australia.
- Dampier Marine Gallery: This showed the amazing sea life around the Dampier Archipelago.
- Mammal, Bird and Butterfly Galleries: These galleries had huge collections of different animals.
The museum closed in June 2016 for a big makeover. The Discovery Centre, a fun place for kids, moved to the State Library. But it closed permanently in December 2019.
The Brand New Museum
After four years of building, the Perth museum reopened! It opened on Saturday, November 21, 2020. The new museum is called "WA Museum Boola Bardip." It has exciting new exhibits. You can learn about the Universe, new inventions from WA, dinosaurs, and local communities.
Inside the new museum are five old heritage buildings. This includes the Old Perth Gaol, which is from 1855. The museum is also built around what might be Australia's oldest grapevine. It's thought to be from the 1850s or 1860s! The museum also includes Hackett Hall. This building used to be a library. Now, it shows the huge skeleton of a blue whale named Otto! The Jubilee Building has also been fixed up and looks amazing.
Maritime and Shipwrecks Museums in Fremantle
Fremantle has two awesome museum branches. They are the WA Maritime Museum and the WA Shipwrecks Museum.
The WA Maritime Museum is on Victoria Quay. It has galleries about the Indian Ocean, the Swan River, fishing, and sea trade. A highlight is the famous yacht Australia II. This yacht won the America's Cup in 1983! The museum is in a historic area. This area includes the entrance to Fremantle Inner Harbour and the migrant Welcome Walls memorial.
Right next to the WA Maritime Museum is HMAS Ovens. This is an Oberon-class submarine! You can take guided tours inside it. It reminds us of the World War II Fremantle submarine base. This was the biggest submarine base in the southern hemisphere. About 170 submarines used it!
Nearby, on Cliff Street, is the WA Shipwrecks Museum. It's in buildings from the 1850s. This museum is known as the best place in the southern hemisphere for learning about maritime archaeology and saving shipwrecks. It has a rebuilt part of the Batavia. This Dutch East India Company ship sank off WA in 1629! You can also see other items from ships wrecked along the WA coast. The museum also has a special engine from the iron steamer SS Xantho, which sank in 1872. You can even turn this engine by hand! The museum also looks after historic wrecks off the WA coast. Many wrecks are shown in the exhibits. Since 1980, the museum has also created "wreck trails" at places like Rottnest Island. These trails let you explore shipwrecks underwater!
The Maritime Archaeology department studies shipwrecks off Western Australia. This includes the famous Batavia shipwreck. They also work on how to manage and list old items. They teach about wreck access and inspect underwater sites. They even study old iron ships and underwater aviation sites. The department also helps with university programs in maritime archaeology.
Museum of the Great Southern in Albany
The Museum of the Great Southern was updated in July 2010. It's in Albany, where the first Europeans settled in Western Australia. This museum explores the region's amazing nature. It also shares the stories of the Indigenous Noongar people and the ancient environment.
The museum building was once the home of Major Edmund Lockyer. He was the leader of the group that arrived in Princess Royal Harbour in 1826. He claimed the land for King George IV. The museum, along with the Old Gaol and other historic buildings, tells the story of this early settlement.
Museum of Geraldton
The Museum of Geraldton is in Western Australia's growing mid-west region. This museum teaches about the area's nature, mining, and farming history. It also shares the stories of the Indigenous Yamaji people. You can also learn about Dutch shipwrecks here. The famous 17th-century Dutch ship Batavia sank near the Abrolhos Islands. This museum has a special part of the ship, called a portico. It has been rebuilt and is a main feature of the shipwreck gallery!
Museum of the Goldfields in Kalgoorlie
The Museum of the Goldfields in Kalgoorlie explores the history of the Eastern Goldfields. It shows the city's mining past. You can also learn about the tough times faced by early miners and pioneer families.
Museum Research and Collections
The Western Australian Museum has a huge research program. Museum scientists and experts study many areas. These include aquatic animals, archaeology (old human history), anthropology (human cultures), saving old items, earth and planetary sciences, history, and land animals. The museum also has a special team that takes care of old materials.
Most of the museum's collections and research labs are at the WA Museum Collections and Research Centre (CRC) in Welshpool. Here are some of the departments there:
- The Terrestrial Zoology department collects and studies land animals. This includes insects, spiders, birds, and mammals.
- The Aquatic Zoology department studies sea, river, and freshwater animals in Western Australia. They look at shells, fish, crabs, and other sea creatures.
- The Earth and Planetary Sciences Department studies and collects fossils, minerals, rocks, gems, meteorites, and tektites. Their collection has over 1.5 million items! It shows Western Australia's history from 3.8 billion years ago.
- The History Department collects items that show how Western Australians lived. They research the stories of people and places in WA. They also have a collection about childhood in Western Australia.
- The Anthropology and Archaeology Department studies human cultures and old human history. They explore how people live, their different cultures, languages, and economies. They also study Ancient Egypt and Aboriginal cultures.
Some items from the Maritime Archaeology and Maritime History departments are at the CRC. However, the staff for these departments work at the WA Shipwrecks Museum.
The Materials Conservation department makes sure the millions of items in the museum's collections are kept safe forever. They use special methods to protect items for research and exhibitions. This department also does research to find new ways to preserve things.
Images for kids
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Hackett Hall in 1913. The building is now part of WA Museum Boola Bardip.
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