Western Australian Maritime Museum, Fremantle

Fremantle is the port town of Western Australia’s capital city, Perth. Being built around a harbour means that anything related to water is important here. While the Maritime Museum has existed for many years, in recent times it’s been upgraded and housed in a fantastic new complex at Victoria Quay. Exhibits and displays there are really wide-ranging and there’s also plenty of hands-on stuff to keep all ages entertained.

Growing up in Western Australia in the 1980s meant that I was completely caught up in the fever of Australia winning the America’s Cup of yachting, and the subsequent hosting of the event in Fremantle. I even remember my father waking me early in the morning to tell me that the yacht Australia II had won the final and deciding race of the cup (in the middle of the night, our time), so I was excited to see the original yacht itself (complete with its famous winged keel) housed in the purpose-built wing of the Maritime Museum. Just opposite it hangs the Parry Endeavour, used by sailor Jon Sanders to circumnavigate the world three times non-stop – another 1980s feat I remember very well. An old local river ferry is also held in the museum and you can climb inside, stand at the wheel and pretend you’re driving it through the museum halls.

Apart from boats and yachts galore, there are heaps of interesting displays on other maritime-related topics, like fishing, exports and immigration. Being an island nation, and Fremantle one of the most isolated ports in the world, what comes and goes by boat is pretty important. A humorous exhibit shows the kinds of exports typically sent from Western Australia around the world, including a big stack of (fake but cute) sheep. The immigration theme is further taken up outside where the Migrant Welcome Wall features names of thousands of Western Australian residents who migrated to Australia up until the 1970s and first set foot on Australian soil after disembarking from a boat at Fremantle.

And on the other side of the museum, if you book the special tour you can get inside the submarine HMAS Ovens permanently settled there. It’s hard for me to imagine life in a submarine, with a strange schedule (our guide explained submariners would work three hours on, six off), tiny cramped sleeping quarters and all that time submerged without a view of the sun – I’d go crazy for sure. The hour long tour was just long enough for my submarine experience, but it was definitely interesting.