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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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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.

15/09/2026

One of the perks of volunteering at the Maritime Museum is getting the chance to visit other museums and cultural centres around Tasmania.

Today, a group of our volunteers headed to the Tasmanian Transport Museum at Glenorchy for a guided tour of their incredible collection.

A big thanks to Tasmanian Transport Museum Treasurer Rod Prince, Phil Mettam from the Tasmania Fire Museum, and the other volunteers who showed the group around and shared an impressive amount of knowledge along the way.

You can find out more about the Tasmanian Transport Museum, including upcoming steam train ride days, at tasmaniantransportmuseum.com.au 🚂

14/09/2026

A fantastic night celebrating our local sailors! ⛵️

13/09/2026

Do you remember when USS Enterprise came to Hobart?

In October 1976, the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier arrived in Tasmania, drawing huge crowds and a flotilla of more than 200 pleasure craft onto the Derwent.

The visit also came with some distinctly local touches, from a special Cascade beer brewed for the American crew to a “Tasmania Welcomes the Big E” T-shirt.

Brendon Bowes looks back at the excitement, controversy and stories surrounding Enterprise’s visit in the Spring issue of the Maritime Times.

Read the latest issue here:
https://publuu.com/flip-book/820923/2594778

10/09/2026

By the time William Forster painted this view of SS Tasman entering Sydney Harbour in 1885, the vessel had already been lying on the seabed off the Tasman Peninsula for two years.

Built in Scotland in 1873 for the Tasmanian Steam Navigation Company, Tasman spent most of its working life carrying passengers and cargo between Hobart and Sydney, with regular stops at Eden on the NSW south coast.

Its final voyage began in Sydney on 27 November 1883. After calling at Eden to take on cattle, Tasman continued south towards Hobart. Early on the morning of 30 November, the vessel passed between the Hippolyte Rocks off the Tasman Peninsula and struck a submerged rock.

The damage was catastrophic. Tasman sank within about 15 minutes, giving the 29 passengers and 27 officers and crew little time to do anything but get into the lifeboats. Everyone aboard survived.

There’s another chapter to the story more than 140 years later. The wreck of Tasman lies about 70 metres below the surface near the Hippolytes, and was recently mapped using high-resolution sonar for the first time by a team aboard CSIRO research vessel Investigator.

This watercolour was painted by marine artist William James Forster, who worked in Sydney in the 1880s, and later came to the Maritime Museum through the family of Captain Henry Bennison, who had served aboard Tasman as First Mate.

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...

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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