Description of the attraction
The Maritime Museum and Shipwreck Gallery are divisions of the Museum of Western Australia located in Fremantle. In addition to these, the museum also has offices in Perth, Albany, Geraldton and Calgoorley Boulder.
Located on the historic Victoria Waterfront in Fremantle, the impressive Maritime Museum building houses collections on the Indian Ocean, Swan River (Swan River), fisheries, maritime trade and naval defense. One of the most interesting exhibits in the museum is the yacht Australia II, which won the 1983 America's Cup. Next to the museum is the Ovens, an Oberon-class submarine, open to the public with a guide. This is the first submarine in Australia to be converted into a museum piece.
Not far from the Maritime Museum, on Cliff Street, is the Shipwreck Gallery, recognized as the main museum of marine archeology in the southern hemisphere and a place where the remains of shipwrecks are protected. The museum occupies a building built in the 1850s, which was formerly the city's Commissariat. The museum's exhibits include the reconstructed hull of the Dutch ship Batavia, which crashed off the banks of Western Australia in 1629, and the engine recovered from the SS Xantho, which sank in 1872. This engine is the only surviving example of a high-speed and high-pressure marine engine produced in series. Visitors can try starting it manually. In 1980, the museum began to develop the Museum Without Borders program, which allows visitors to see the remains of shipwrecks not within the walls of a building, but in real scenery - on the ocean shore.
