The Western Australian Museum – Albany has more than just kids activities this school holiday season. Adults will be treated as well, to stories of pirates, songs of seafarers and tales of steamships and whalers.
In the Wild West Lecture Series
William Dampier “Pirate and Hydrographer”
Adjunct Professor Michael McCarthy, Curator of Maritime Archaeology
Learn about explorer William Dampier who arrived in New Holland in 1688. His book ‘A New Voyage Round the World’ inspired many literary greats and his treatise on the world’s oceanography influenced mariners and explorers. Dampier’s descriptions and collections of the native flora and fauna of Shark Bay and the north west in 1699 earned him the title of ‘Australia’s First Natural historian’.
WHO: Adults
COST: Gold coin donation
WHEN: Thursday 14 July -7pm and Friday 15 July – 12.30pm
WHERE: Co-op Building
BOOKINGS: Essential on 9841 4844
Salty Tales and Tunes
An evening of seafaring fare
Join in the traditional music of the sea and share the tunes that reflect life on the sea with music from the Albany Squeezers.
Bring along your favourite maritime poems, jokes and readings for the open microphone session. Sit back and enjoy a night of fun and games that will entertain and delight as we enter the realm of the ancient mariners. Dress in seafaring garb, pirates, sailors, lighthouse keepers, whalers, mermaids....stretch the imagination. Prizes will be awarded for the best dressed and the best pirate speak.
Light refreshments served.
WHO: Adults
COST: $5 Bookings essential on 9841 4844
WHEN: Saturday 16 July, 6.30-8.30pm
WHERE: Co-op Building
BRING: BYOG
***Events on 14, 15 and 16 will include special book signing and sale of “Pirate Outrages – Terror on the China Seas”
by local author Douglas Sellick.***
Living on the edge – 19th century sealers, whalers, and steamships on the south coast.
Join Adam Wolfe, maritime archaeologist and historian, to learn about Albany's unique maritime history.
For over 50 years, Albany was the colony of Western Australia’s main port. Albany was the junction for thousands of seafarers, passengers, traders, whalers and sealers, all of whom brought a unique perspective to the developing seaport. Mr Wolfe will explain why Albany fulfilled this role and how the port and harbour operated with little funding and infrastructure in the early years. You will also learn about some of the larger-than-life characters from these early days and what they left behind!
Get a significant maritime perspective on your past!
WHO: Adults
COST: Gold coin donation
WHEN: Sunday 17 July, 1.30-3.30pm
WHERE: Co-op Building
Teresa Belcher, Western Australian Museum: T 9212 3856
Catherine Salmaggi, Western Australian Museum – Albany: T 9841 4844
