WA Maritime Museum

[Lion]

Visited the family in Perth, West Australia, over the last week. We had a great time.

Went to the new Western Australia Maritime Museum at Fremantle ..port for Perth and briefly the home of the Americas Cup; Australia II, which is in the museum ( www.mm.wa.gov.au ). Stunning building and location jutting out into the Indian Ocean...think Gehrig's Guggunheim in Balboa (sp?) on the water ! Great exhibits, lots of woodies etc.

Just around the corner is the Duyfken replica, a Dutch VOC East Indian from around 1600, which used to ply the Cape Good Hope/Indian Ocean route to Batavia/Indonesia....the Spice Islands. This about 60ft jewel was sailed from Australia to Holland in 2001/2 in a re-enactment. Built totally of traditional materials and methods in Fremantle mostly by volunteers with oak and pine imported from Latvia. A few problems with liability insurance so not able to go on board and looking for a sponsor.

Around another corner is the Wooden Boat Works doing great stuff. Run by the very affable Graham Latiff they build clinker dinghies (both plywood & solid plank), strip, and carvel. Major restorations on 20-30 ft carvel planked launchs and sailboats. A glued/planked Dragon is hanging upside down from the ceiling waiting its turn and a clinker 30 ft ex naval pinnace is being delivered next week for rebuild. They do diversion training for juvernile offenders, nice kids, nice place, nice people. They also offer an 18 month fully accredited training course in wooden boat building. Contact:-

Wooden Boat Works
Slip Street
Victoria Quay
Fremantle
Western Australia 6959 (PO Box 1091)
Phone 61 8 93359477
Fax 61 8 93364339
email woodenboats@iinet.net.au

We then repaired to the 'Little Creatures' micro brewery which is housed in the building sheds where the 'Endevour' replica of Capt. Cook fame was built .. believe she is still plying the oceans including visits to Britain etc..

A lovely time was had by all... well worth the visit !

Lion

[MarkC]

Thanks for that Lion. Sounds like a must-see. I saw Austrlia II plenty when it was in the Australian National Maritime Museum (in Sydney). Perhaps it does belong in Freemantle?? - Anyway the boat should be shared.

South Australia's maritime museum in Port Adelaide is good too. Based more on the Ketch wheat hauling trade and the history of the sea-side areas of Adelaide and water/seaside entertainment. The photos surprised me - they had a good time back then! Port Adelaide was ALIVE - Semaphore (the sea-side suburb) was Partying!

Brisbane's maritime museum... I visited and yeah - I don't really know whats going on with it. Lack of money. - good presentation/explanation of the steam-ship maritime trade and equipment - but suffering from donated boats and exhibits left to rot outside. Needs sponsors.

Cheers
Mark

[Wild Dingo]

And yer didnt give me a hoi??? strewth!! man Im hurt stunned shocked aghast and well maxed out about that! I woulda dropped everythin and rolled me way up there to say gidday no worries

aahh but did you try to get any half decent photos lion??? mmmmm?? ...my bet after visiting and taking many photos within that building was that they dont turn out!

Dont get me wrong mate some flamin ripper boats in there! gawd Trixen had me huffin and puffin like buggary gorgeous rebuild {Did yer hear that TonyH?? mmm get over here and have a gander mate! } did you see the wee tin canoe?? what a hoot! and that one Jon Sanders sailed round the world solo? coulda cleaned it a tad but it does lend a certain authentic feel eh? all that grime and stuff hangin of her... some really interesting boats in there for sure... but the space was too small to be able to do anything with and the lighting sucked something shocking and the angles were atrocious ... and I went in summer!! so gawd knows how it is in winter

But... Im glad you had a great time mate!! theres some fine places to visit in Freo and some great pubs and eaterys!!

[Lion]

Dingo

Good point about pics. I of course have the images in my mind but they are a bit hard to download and share.

Got to get me one of those digital camera thingys and then learn how to post. Could be a while ! In fact each time I look there seem to be a bewildering array of now seemingly reasonably priced models on the market. Its not so much the price, rather in the absence of any knowledge, a fear of making the wrong choice. (You are talking to someone here who still cannot programme a VCR). Maybe on a seperate post I will seek the advice of WBF's wisdom on this matter.

Lion

[Wild Dingo]

Digital cameras have been covered several times mate...

re the museum... I thought it was a rip snorter with all those boats all together some fine fine examples of our history in that building...

Just that for photos it was horrendous all those corners and sharp edges large expanses of glass in the wrong places the layout wasnt thought through very well for tourist purposes {read cameras!} of the 70 or so pics Yaz and I took in there about 10 are good 20 are just okay and the rest are bits and peices of boats the entire vessel being obscured by walls stairways and the all prevading glass. I tried several times to get a half decent shot of both Trixen and Australia II but due to the above was unable and that was a disappointment... and I wonder how many foreign tourists spend their money take their pics and come away somewhat disappointed?

Never mind eh?! You sound like you have a ripper of a time so thats the main thing... If you get over again give us a hoi mate and we'll meet up somewhere.

[winslow]

Doggoneit!

I thought a new museum had opened in my state, Washington (abreviated: WA). How very Ameri-centric of me.

Anyway, sounds interesting. Thanks for tellin' me about it.

[Wild Wassa]

Lion, Cheers Mate. Thanks for the posting.
Did you see a lot of red dirt? ... and Dingo should take us wildflowering.

Warren.

ps, I haven't visited WA, ... it's looks too wild for me.