MUSEUM EXHIBITS

The exhibits are many and varied.  The list below outlines the main categories of the collection. Click on a category for information about that category.

Photos of some of the exhibits have been arranged into a gallery Click here to view the gallery. There are other photographs in the left hand column of this page.

Feature Exhibits

The main exhibits are described on separate pages.  These include:

• LIFEBOAT Queenscliffe - the core of the Museum collection

• Port Phillip Sea Pilots

• Port Phillip Steamer trade

• Lighthouses

• Boat Building Shed

Other exhibits include:

• In the Same Boat - exhibition of shipwrecks in Port Phillip and around the Heads

• Hydrographic model of the Rip - the treacherous entrance to Port Phillip

• Dive display

• Shipwrecks and artefacts

• Lifesaving equipment

• Historical postcards

• Model ships

• Sea Kayak display

• HMVS Lonsdale interpretive panel

MORE HISTORIC VESSELS REPRESENTED IN THE COLLECTION INCLUDE

DAVID CLARKE

The first ship to arrive in Melbourne carrying assisted migrants.

CLIPPER LIGHTNING

The fastest wooden ship ever built.  The Lightning burned to her waterline in Geelong in 1869.

PILOT SCHOONER RIP

The model of the Pilot schooner Rip is magnificent

There are photos of the models of Lightning and Rip in the exhibits photo gallery

HYDROGRAPHIC MODEL OF THE RIP

DIVE DISPLAY

Includes an early Siebe Gorman helmet, suit, hand operated air compressor and closed circuit breathing apparatus, early scuba suits, regulators, weight belts and, underwater cameras.  A Snead shallow water diving helmet and lever pump are also part of the display. Young visitors (and the young at heart) can experience what it felt like to wear a dive helmet.

SHIP WRECK ARTEFACTS

Artefacts on display include items from the SS Time which was stranded on Corsair Rock in 1949.  The salvage rights and cargo were bought by a local consortium of 8 people.  Following the removal and sale of her cargo of sugar, timber and hides an auction of the equipment and fittings from the wreck of the Time was held in the park at Queenscliff.  Many of the items purchased during the auction have been donated or loaned to the Museum to form an extensive Time collection. The photograph at right is of Time on Corsair Rock. The ship telegraph in the left column was salvaged from the Time.

LIFESAVING EQUIPMENT

SEA KAYAK DISPLAY

The Sea Kayak used by adventurer Paul Caffyn to paddle around Australia in 1981/82 was given to the Queenscliffe Maritime Museum following the 25th anniversary of that first kayak circumnavigation.  Paul's kayak Lalaguli forms the start of a growing collection which recognises the popularity of the Sea Kayak sport around Port Phillip.

In 2009 Freya Hoffmeister became the first woman to paddle around Australia; her kayak is now on display in the Museum.

Earle Bloomfield (now de Blonville) and John Brewster made the first circumnavigation of Tasmania by kayak in 1979.  The kayak used in this voyage has recently been loaned to the Museum by Earle.

A new sea kayak display has recently been installed to tell the stories of the 3 kayak expeditions.  Slide shows illustrating the 3 voyages run continuously alongside the display.

Information about the Sea Kayak journeys is available here:

HISTORICAL POSTCARDS

An extensive collection of old Queenscliff and Point Lonsdale postcards is part of a display of postcards from around Port Phillip

NAUTICAL PICTURES

Browse the exhibition of nautical pictures on display including tall ships under sail and early steam ships.  Our Librarian is developing a comprehensive index of pictures of ships that have brought immigrants to our shores.  More information about this index will be available soon.

MODEL SHIPS

There are many models on display including a collection of ships in bottles

ALSO......

Anchors from the Komet and Eliza Ramsden, propellers from a J Class Submarine, buoys, channel markers and lights are exhibited at the Museum.

Some hands-on activities include:

• sound a portable fog horn

• ring ships bells

• try a morse key

• play on Benito’s Pirate Boat, or on Defiance Too a red wooden boat, both located in the museum grounds.