Our site will come to life these July school holidays with a series of nautical activities, exhibitions and musical performances as part of the inaugural Albany Maritime Festival, from Monday 5 to Friday 16 July.
Celebrating Albany’s unique seafaring history, the Maritime Festival will span two weeks and feature events and programs across various locations in and around our coastal city.
During the first week of holidays, the team from the Wave Energy Research Centre will be onsite with their Wave Hello to Renewable Energy program. Join them to learn all about the power of wave energy. Interact with the specially designed water tanks to create ocean environments, and discover some of the different wave energy technologies being trialled across the world.
After discovering wave energy, you can have a go at indoor beach combing while you explore the magnificent shell display. Uncover the animals that live inside each shell with the interactive touchscreen display. You will become an expert beach-comber in no time!
A visit over the middle weekend of 10 and 11 July provides opportunity to hear entertaining whaling stories from one of Albany’s past whaling families. Spanning multiple generations, the Stubbs family has quite a few quirky whaling stories to share with you. Find them onsite from 12pm to 1pm both days. Plus, enjoy a variety of folk and shanty music performances in our unique whale skeleton display, Saturday 11am – 2pm, and Sunday 10am – 3pm. It will be a toe-tapping good time!
As you explore the Historic Whaling Station during the second week of the holidays, you may bump into in a real life past whaler. Hear firsthand stories from these men as they look back on their time working for the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company, a major industry in Albany’s maritime history.
After speaking to a past whaler, head over to the knot tying station to discover the skills of the sea and learn a variety of handy maritime knots. Or try your hand at solving cryptic riddles as you follow the whaling station trail.
Throughout the Maritime Festival our museum is host to a travelling exhibition curated by the Australian National Maritime Museum: Remarkable – Stories of Australians and their boats. Australia’s history is populated with maritime related stories. With over 1,000 rivers and a coast that stretches for more than 36,000 kilometres, it is no surprise that Australia abounds with stories of people who have lived and worked on the water.
This exhibition presents some of those stories, exploring the remarkable connections between people and their boats. Remarkable, created by the Australian Maritime Museums Council and the Australian National Maritime Museum, provides an opportunity for regional audiences to hear national and local stories. The project has been assisted by the Australian Government’s Vision of Australia program.
For more on the Albany Maritime Festival visit cityofalbanyevents.com.
Click the image below to download our July school holiday program.
