Australian National Maritime Museum

The Australian National Maritime Museum has thousands of exhibits depicting Australia’s history – from ancient times when Aboriginal people trapped fish and traded with Asian neighbours, right up to the present. Visitors can see what life was like on the convict ships; how Australia “rode on the whale’s back”; how its first submarine fought bravely (and lost) in World World I at Gallipoli; what people packed when they sailed to a new life on these shores; why surfboards have become shorter; and more. There are displays, hands-on exhibits, a cinema and the latest museum computer games. Guided tours at no cost.

Visitors can go aboard the HMAS Vampire, the former Royal Australian Navy destroyer. A guided tour shows how the crew lived, worked and relaxed.

Also on display is Australia II, winner of the 1983 America’s Cup; relics of Captain Cook’s Endeavour; the famous World War II commando boat Krait; a sleek racing cutter of 1888; a Vietnamese refugee boat that made the hazardous sea voyage to Australia and a pearling lugger from Broome, a far north-western seabord town which is now a booming tourist destination.