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Monday 10am - 3pm Tuesday 10am - 3pm Wednesday 10am - 3pm Thursday 10am - 3pm Friday 10am - 3pm Saturday 9am - 5pm Sunday 9am - 5pm

Maritime Museum Tasmania

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Hobart, TAS
Maritime Museum Tasmania

Celebrating the rich maritime history & heritage of Australia's island state, lutruwita/Tasmania.

The Maritime Museum of Tasmania has been operating for nearly 50 years. It provides an insight into the connections and significance you will see displays that explore aboriginal watercraft, ship building, navigational instruments, shipwrecks, historic dinghies and Tasmania 's role in naval warfare.

07/09/2026

What happens when 4,500 sailors arrive in a city of just 55,000 people?

Hobart found out in March 1924, when seven Royal Navy warships of Britain’s Special Service Squadron sailed into the Derwent.

The fleet included HMS Hood, then the largest warship in the world, along with HMS Repulse and five light cruisers. Thousands of people gathered around the waterfront to watch the squadron arrive, despite miserable weather.

Over the following week, Hobart went all out. There were official receptions, dances, sporting events, a race meeting at Elwick, free tram travel for sailors in uniform, excursions and invitations into local homes. HMS Hood even hosted around 1,500 guests for an evening of refreshments, music and dancing on the boat deck.

The visit was part of a ten-month world tour by the Special Service Squadron, intended to showcase British naval power and strengthen ties across the Empire.

These two items from our Museum collection help tell the story of that visit: a commemorative pin produced for the squadron’s world tour, and a photograph of HMS Hood alongside Ocean Pier in 1924. The map is from The World Cruise of H.M. Ships, Empire Photographic Publishing Co., London, 1924. The last image is a Beattie photograph of HMS departing Ocean Pier.

04/09/2026

Trying to track down a sailor in the family? Looking for information about a particular ship, passenger or voyage?

You might be surprised by what can be found in the Maritime Museum’s collection!

We regularly hear from people researching family histories and Tasmania’s maritime past, and our library volunteers can help search the records and archives held in our collection. Researchers can also arrange to consult collection objects and archival material by appointment.

Research enquiries can be sent to [email protected] with your contact details and as much information as you have about what you’re looking for.

Find out more: https://www.maritimetas.org/heritage/research

28/08/2026

Pirates, serial killers, artists, entrepreneurs, governors, explorers and convicts. They’re all part of the story of Lady Nelson.

For our next Lunchtime Talk, Hobart maritime historian and sailor Malcolm “Mal” Riley will introduce some of the thousands of people who travelled aboard the original Lady Nelson, including familiar names such as Macquarie, Franklin and Flinders, as well as some much less well-known characters.

Mal has spent much of his life around ships. He served in the Royal Australian Navy aboard HMAS Melbourne and HMAS Diamantina, was one of the skippers of the replica Lady Nelson for many years, and has sailed aboard numerous tall ships around the world. He has also written extensively about the people connected with the original Lady Nelson.

Mal has only recently returned from the Northern Hemisphere, where he sailed aboard two German tall ships and a Norwegian vessel ranging from 400 to 2,500 tonnes.

Join us to hear some of the stories he has uncovered, and why Mal believes this small colonial brig may be one of the most important vessels in Australian history.

Tuesday 1 September, 12pm
TMAG Royal Society Room, 19 Davey Street

Free, but bookings are essential:
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/1997427779257

Our Lunchtime Talks are supported by Arts Tasmania.

25/08/2026

The new issue of Maritime Times is out now!

In our Spring 2026 edition, we head south with photographer David Neilson and 'Antarctica is Melting', revisit the extraordinary arrival of USS Enterprise and 5,500 sailors in Hobart in 1976, and uncover the story of Captain Carl Anton Larsen’s ambitious but ultimately abandoned plan for a whaling base on Macquarie Island.

We also take a look at some interesting new additions to the Maritime Museum collection, follow Julie Burgess back to Stanley for the town’s bicentenary, and explore what’s happening in Tasmania’s ports and shipyards.

Read issue 95 of Maritime Times Tasmania online here:
https://publuu.com/flip-book/820923/2594778, or purchase a copy from the Museum's front desk.

24/08/2026

A quick update for visitors this week: the Maritime Museum will close early at 1pm on Friday 28 August for some maintenance.

We’ll be open as usual from 9am to 5pm on all other days.

If you’re planning a visit on Friday, please make sure to arrive with enough time to explore before we close at 1pm. Thanks for understanding!

21/08/2026

Looking forward to Australian Wooden Boat Festival? Us too! If you've got a boat to register, time is running out...

20/08/2026

The Australian Antarctic Festival is officially underway, and we were pleased to join today’s launch ahead of a big few days of Antarctic activity across Hobart.

The Maritime Museum is getting involved too, with free museum entry this Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 August. If you’re heading into the city for the festival, drop in before or after exploring the activities around the waterfront.

While you’re here, don’t miss 'Antarctica is Melting', our current exhibition by acclaimed Australian photographer David Neilson.

With the Australian Antarctic Festival running across Hobart from 20 to 23 August, it’s a great weekend to explore the city’s long connection with Antarctica and the Southern Ocean.

Congratulations to the team from Mawson's Huts Foundation for organising such a diverse and interesting range of activities, and for asking us to be involved.

18/08/2026

The New York Times Book Review said, "Southern Light is a blast of beauty... David Neilson spreads before us myriad majestic peaks and icy plains in images that seem lit from within. One of several gatefold panoramas shows a colony of 20,000 king penguins, stretching as far as the lens can see... His camera celebrates life, unexpected eruptions of it in hues we don’t associate with these latitudes – pinks, lavenders, emeralds, the sage green of Macquarie Island cabbage and the orange glow of certain lichens…. Southern Light is a love letter in the form of a coffee-table book."

You can pick up your own copy here at the Maritime Museum, and while you're here check out David's incredible exhibition 'Antarctica is Melting'.

17/08/2026

Got a few hours to spare and an interest in Tasmania’s stories?

At the Maritime Museum, our volunteers are part of just about everything we do. They welcome visitors, share stories, help with events and exhibitions, support our collection, assist with research and generally help keep the Museum running.

You don’t need to be a maritime historian. You don’t need to know your port from your starboard. You just need some time, an interest in people or history, and a willingness to get involved.

Whether you can help regularly or only occasionally, there are plenty of ways to get involved.

Think you might enjoy being part of it? Get in touch!

Pictured: volunteers Peter, Rob, and Pip ready to greet Museum visitors.

14/08/2026

Our latest issue of Maritime Times Tasmania takes a closer look at the work of Hobart’s Mission to Seafarers, an organisation providing practical support, hospitality and a friendly face to seafarers arriving in our port.

For crews who can spend months away from home, often with only a short time ashore between long stretches at sea, that support can make a real difference.

In the latest Maritime Times, Pru Bonham writes about the people behind the Hobart mission and the valuable work they continue to do for the thousands of seafarers whose work brings them to Tasmania.

It’s an important part of Hobart’s maritime community and one that deserves wider recognition.

Pick up a copy of Maritime Times at the Museum to read the full story, or read online here: https://publuu.com/flip-book/820923/2487640

Address

16 Argyle Street
Hobart, TAS
7000

Opening Hours

Monday	10am - 3pm
Tuesday	10am - 3pm
Wednesday	10am - 3pm
Thursday	10am - 3pm
Friday	10am - 3pm
Saturday	9am - 5pm
Sunday	9am - 5pm

Telephone

+61362341427

Website

http://www.maritimetas.org/

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