Western Australia Maritime Museum by Gregory Blaxell

The last time I was near the waterfront at Fremantle was to get a ride on the press boat to watch a race to select a challenger to Australia’s Kookaburra II in the 1987 America’s Cup. The America’s Cup challenge was hosted by the Royal Perth Yacht Club. The Louis Vuitton Cup, was the precursor used to select the challenger to Kookaburra II.
On that day, the combatants were Stars and Stripes (with Skipper Dennis Connor) representing San Diego Yacht Club of the USA and Kiwi Magic, (with Skipper Chris Dickson), representing the Mercury Bay Boating Club of New Zealand. It must have been a Vuitton Cup final and was won by Stars and Stripes. That 12-metre went on to challenge and ultimately defeat Kookaburra II in four straight races.
It is interesting to note that there were a total of twelve syndicates competing to challenge the Australians. They came from Canada, France (2 syndicates), Italy (2 syndicates), New Zealand, United Kingdom and United States of America (5 syndicates).
The front shell of the museum building showing the influence of boat building on the architectural design. / The container port on the Swan River almost opposite the Maritime Museum.
I had a wonderful day as the ferry always took pride of place in the spectator fleet and was always nearest the starting/finishing line or a buoy signifying a rounding mark. The weather had been correctly scripted and the brisk Fremantle Doctor had kicked in by the time of the starting signal.
As a sailor, I thought that these were perfect conditions for sailing. Certainly the water was a bit choppy but there was a wonderful steady breeze that was excellent for faultless sailing and creative tactics. And I saw a lot of both. These yachts were the Formula One of sailing and the crews were all Grande Prix material.
However, not the same can be said for the many journalists who were on board. Perhaps the night before there had been a big, boozy dinner. Whatever, within a short time of getting to the course and slopping around waiting for the action to begin, I guarantee more than two-thirds of those on board were spewing. How they filed their copy was beyond me, but later in the Press Centre, most seemed to be banging out script. Ah, it’s a tough life sometimes.
The defence of the America’s Cup in Fremantle had really brought the port city alive. Fremantle was the place to be, whether for fine food, excellent wine, plenty of Swan Lager and other similar beverages and fantastic company. And because ‘Freo’ had been hypothetically put on the shelf until the America’s Cup, most of its fine 19th century buildings had been retained and many restored. Fremantle still retains that wonderful feeling of heritage.
Ben Lexcen’s famous winged keel fitted to America’s Cup winner, Australia II. / Parry Endeavour and Jon Sanders coming down a steep face of a Southern Ocean roller.
The Western Australian Coast has a long maritime history. Fremantle became the port of the new colony of Western Australia when Captain Charles Howe Fremantle, Commander of HMS Challenger, took possession of Western Australia in the name of King George IV on 2nd May 1829. But its history goes back way before this time when there were many sightings, landings and wrecks by the ships of Britain, Holland and other European nations involved in the spice trade.
The new Western Australian Maritime Museum reflects this tradition. It was built on Victoria Quay on the south bank of the Swan River very near its mouth (now protected by a breakwater). It is a part of an active, functional port.
The Museum was opened on 1st December 2002 by the then Premier, Hon. Dr Geoff Gallop. It is the first museum with a focus on the Indian Ocean and contains six theme galleries: the Indian Ocean; Tin Canoe to Australia II; Fremantle and the Swan River; Hooked on Fishing; Cargoes; and Naval Defence.
The new, museum building, (imagine a clinker-build boat laying upside down on the sand) was designed by architects Cox Howlett and Bailey Woodland and is a reminder of the dinghy that was first rowed ashore when the British took possession in 1829.
It’s a stunning building and full of creatively and intelligently crafted displays covering the themes listed above. In the vestibule, where you pay your entry fee, there is a typical museum bric-a-brac store and a modest refreshment/food area. As it was a typical, very hot Perth day outside, the air-conditioned atmosphere was very welcome.
What a feast there is waiting for you on the several levels of the building.
In each thematic category there is a least one large and graphic display item. I walked towards the front of the gallery first and came across Australia II.
At this level, I was at the underbelly and all those warm and proud memories of the unveiling of the Lexcen-designed, winged keel came flooding back. I had this piece of genius staring me in the face. I just sat there and revelled in the reminiscences. I then noticed stairs that took me to deck level so I could view the whole from above.
Pearling lugger Trixen as an 18-metre ketch. From 1960 she worked in the prawn industry near Carnarvon and ended her days as a ferry between Fremantle, Rockingham and Garden Island.It was spectacular, especially as the models of the crew looked ready and alert. The display represents the crew in their positions for Race 7 in 1983. Nearby I came across an interactive device showing how breeze affects how a boat sails. (Sometimes I wished my crew had seen that model. Perhaps they even thought it would have been great had the skipper understood about angles of attack.)
Almost opposite is perhaps the most dramatic display item in the museum. It is the yacht Parry Endeavour surfing down the face of a huge wave in the Southern Ocean on 20th November 1987 with the solo sailor Jon Sanders clinging on in fear of his life. No thanks. I don’t want to be there (also felt by Sanders in spades I’m sure). He sailed into Fremantle Harbour four months later after completing the first single-handed triple circumnavigation of the globe without stopping. No comment. I’m exhausted even thinking about it.
Sama Biasa, from Roti Island near Timor, was the first vessel confiscated by Australian authorities for illegal fishing in Australian waters.Everywhere you turn, there is something fascinating to see. And it’s never just plonked on the floor. It’s usually mounted and elevated and able to be viewed from several levels.
This gives one a very intimate feeling about any craft, be it a fishing or a cray boat, a Kallis pearl lugger, an Indonesian fishing boat from Roti Island near Timor, confiscated for fishing in Australian waters or the displays of weaponry including the remnant of the AE2 modified E Class British submarine, one of two attached to the Royal Australian Navy during WWI.
Child migrants from Britain and Malta are remembered by these thoughtful and reflective bronze statues found in the museum’s forecourt.I could have spent many more hours there but there was part of my family group that wanted to take a tour of the Oberon Class submarine Ovens, located on the slipway alongside the museum. I walked round to the submarine with them but instead of taking the conducted tour (given by an ex-submariner who had served on several Oberon Class submarines and really knew his stuff), I looked around the slip then walked the periphery of the museum building.
It was here that I came across the bronze figures of two children who were child migrants from Britain and/or Malta. They were life-sized and expressed fear, apprehension, and perhaps relief at having at last landed in this very foreign land. I found these very thought provoking.
I also read the names of the many migrants who had lobbed in Fremantle on their way to a hopefully better life in Australia. Migration, especially on this scale after WWII, was hugely successful, but there must have been times when …
Bow section of HMAS Ovens on the slipway alongside the museum. / Bow from an Oberon Class submarine with port torpedo tube in operation.There is a lot to reflect on in these outside exhibits. My submarine explorers were full of talk about the innards of the monster. But even they, as nubile and agile kids, said they found that there wasn’t much room.
The Western Australian Maritime Museum on Victoria Quay is well worth a visit the next time you go to Perth.
Next month, I will look at the Western Australian Maritime Museum’s Shipwreck Galleries, now housed on what was originally the Commissariat Building, convict built as a storehouse to serve nearby South Jetty. Here the focus will be on the remnants of the wrecked Batavia and other very early marine archaeological treasures.

* Gregory Blaxell is an historian and author. A new edition of his book The River: Sydney Cove to Parramatta is now available. Trade orders can be made through the publishers, Halstead Press.