Australia’s marine parks are home to some of the world’s most breathtaking and mysterious ecosystems. Now, a new exhibition, Exploring WA’s Deep Sea, offers an unprecedented look into their hidden wonders, on display at the WA Shipwrecks Museum until 23 March.
Exploring WA’s Deep Sea showcases the remarkable scientific discoveries from the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre’s two-year project, which explored the biology, ecology, geomorphology, and oceanography of the deepest regions of Australia’s marine reserves: the Gascoyne Marine Reserve, Perth Canyon Marine Reserve, and South-west Corner Marine Reserve.
The Western Australian Museum is one of the organisations that collaborated on the project. Andrew Hosie, the Museum's Curator of Aquatic Zoology (Crustacea & Worms), explained the exhibition provides the public with a unique opportunity to experience what has traditionally been accessible only to marine scientists using advanced technology.
“Some marine parks reach depths of up to 6,000 metres. So, the exhibition is a great chance for visitors to see spectacular deep-sea animals, and landforms through rare underwater footage, Indigenous artwork, and preserved specimens, as well as some of the technology and equipment required for such deep-sea research.
Andrew said the Museum’s role in the project is to bring the Museum’s biodiversity expertise and assist specimen curation and identification.
“I participated in a field trip to Perth Canyon, west of Rottnest, to help deploy their traps and process the resulting specimens.
“We have received representative specimens for our collections, with more on the way, and we’re contributing to reports to Parks Australia and future publications,” Andrew said.
Behind the scenes, the WA Museum designed the exhibition layout, prepared the specimens, and crafted taxidermy displays, bringing the wonders of our ocean depths to the surface.
The Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre’s two-year project, Exploring the Deepest Parts of Australian Marine Parks, is a collaboration with the WA Museum, Parks Australia, and the Minderoo Foundation, featuring deep-sea artwork by Wadandi Noongar and Ait Koedhal artist Tyrown Waigana.
Don’t miss the free public floor talk at the WA Shipwrecks Museum on Sunday 16 March, 1pm – 2pm. Visit https://visit.museum.wa.gov.au/shipwrecks/exploring-was-deep-sea-floortalks
