Shipwreck Galleries
 The Shipwreck Galleries are located in Cliff Street, Fremantle. Open 9.30am – 5.00pm daily 1.00pm – 5.00pm Anzac Day and Boxing Day Closed Christmas Day and Good Friday Entry is by donation (entrance fees may apply for special exhibitions) Phone 9431 8444 for more information |
The Maritime Museum in Cliff Street, Fremantle, has been renamed the Western Australian Maritime Museum Shipwreck Galleries. The Shipwreck Galleries are recognised as the foremost maritime archaeology museum in the southern hemisphere. The displays in the restored convict-built Commissariat building feature early exploration and shipwrecks along the treacherous coastline as early as the 17th Century, including original timbers from the Dutch VOC ship the Batavia, wrecked in 1629. The Shipwreck Galleries will continue to play an important role in researching and conserving Western Australia’s maritime heritage as well as being part of the complex of attractions for visitors to the Fremantle waterfront precinct. |
The Entrance Gallery |
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The North Gallery houses the Steamships to Suffragettes Exhibition. Here visitors can view the SS Xantho project and watch its rare and groundbreaking steam engine being rebuilt after well over a century underwater and after twenty years of conservation treatment. |
| The Dutch Gallery This is a view showing the gallery and some of the displays of recovered material from the Dutch wrecks including Zuytdorp, Zeewijk, Vergulde Draeck and limited material on the Batavia and the VOC. |
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The Batavia Gallery The Batavia Gallery is the centrepiece of the Shipwreck Galleries. It houses the reconstructed remains of the VOC ship Batavia which was excavated by Maritime archaeologists in the 1970s. After lengthy treatment by the Department of Materials Conservation,the remains were rebuilt in this gallery. Also on display is the skeleton of one of the people murdered on the Houtman Abrolhos, the portico facade that the Batavia was carrying as cargo for the Indies, and many other artefacts. |
| The Woodblock Floor Gallery The wooden blocks in the floor of this gallery are made of jarrah, a local Western Australian timber and were part of the original building. This gallery now has the Hartog to de Vlamingh exhibition showing. A replica of the original Pelsaert's journal, that brought the horror of the mutiny to the world, is on display along with a collection of early charts, documents and books. |
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