West Australia Maritime Museum, Fremantle

 Ever since Australia won the America's Cup in Fremantle in 1983 I have wanted to go there. The feed back from visitors at the time was that it was a quaint, historic, maritime town and that sounded like my kind of place.  I was also keen to see the Maritime Museum and more particularly the America's Cup display.

West Australia Maritime Museum, Freemantle

A part of my job as a guide at New Zealand's National Maritime Museum in Auckland is leading America's Cup tours. I love that part of my work and am always keen to add to my knowledge.  Since Fremantle  is just a short half hour train trip from Perth, where I was staying, it was perfect for a day trip.

Australia II, America's Cup winning boat.  It is hard to get a photo of the whole boat due to the way it is displayed

The museum is a short walk from the railway station and housed in a very modern, stylish building right on the waterfront near the entrance to Fremantle Port. The interior is light, airy and open and goes up several levels with many great displays of all things maritime including leisure boats, home made boats, fishing displays, commercial boats and of course the America's Cup boat Australia II. 

Inside the museum 

The America's Cup display was my first port of call, so to speak, and it is excellent.  I like the way they have figures of the crew on deck in the act of sailing the boat and the large lego replica of the boat close by is quite spectacular.  Interestingly Australia challenged for the cup 6 times before winning it on the 7th attempt.  They lost it in the next America's Cup and have never entered again. I was so pleased I got to see the display and thoroughly enjoyed looking through the rest of the museum, it would be easy to spend a whole day there. There is a cafe overlooking the water and a gift shop in the foyer. I am proud that New Zealand is the country outside the USA which has won the cup the most times and we currently hold the cup for the fifth time.  Clearly their win was very special to Australia, the T Shirts in the gift shop were celebrating 40 years since their win in 1983. 

HMAS Ovens (Photo by West Australia Maritime Museum)

Next I  booked a tour of the museum's cold war submarine, HMAS Ovens. The decommissioned submarine sits on land beside the museum.  It is 90 metres long and 8 metres wide and carried a crew of around 70, including officers. Kept in well maintained and original condition it is now a living memorial to those from Fremantle who died while serving in World War II.

Inside HMAS Ovens

The tiny galley where all meals were cooked

Bunks stacked three high

Led by a former crew member the tour was fantastic.  It is hard to imagine what life would be like in your under sea world but our guide was able to show us and describe it well.  Not for me the cramped underwater conditions but fascinating to see all the same  and to marvel at the resilience of the men who served on her.

I highly recommend a visit to the West Australia Maritime Museum and if you go make sure you take a tour of HMAS Ovens.