Geraldton Museum

The Western Australian Museum was established in 1891 and has a long and fascinating history which reflects and documents the State’s rich and diverse natural and cultural heritage. Today the Western Australian Museum comprises six public sites and a collection and research centre and houses more than 4.5 million objects from rare fossils to the iconic racing yacht Australia II. The Museum also manages 200 shipwreck sites of the 1500 known to be located off the WA coast and manages eight Aboriginal land reserves. Due to its location in the Western Australian Coral Coast and its proximity to the beautiful Abrolhos Islands with their dark history of shipwrecks, the Town and now City of Greater Geraldton has had a museum in its midst since 1971. In 1982, the Western Australian Museum Geraldton, the second regional branch of the Western Australian Museum was born. In 2001 a new building in the stunning Batavia Coast Marina became the regional home to the Mid West and Shipwrecks Galleries, a Temporary Exhibition Gallery, and a shop. In 2008, the Pride of the Fleet: HMAS Sydney II gallery was opened just three weeks after the discovery of the wrecks of HSK Kormoran and HMAS Sydney II.