Butterflies and bayonets
Dates
Saturday 23 & Sunday 24 April | 10am – 4pm
Monday 25 April | 1pm – 4pm*
Screening hourly | 25-minute duration
*Museum opening hours are 1pm-5pm on Monday 25 April
Site access information
WA Maritime Museum is mostly accessible, excluding tours aboard the HMAS Ovens. Call 1300 134 081 for assistance. More about accessibility and amenities >
Join us for a moving and exquisite documentary film about the Great War and a small triumph of preservation for the natural sciences.
In 1918 on the eve of the Villers-Bretonneux offensive, under the command of Lieutenant General Sir Joseph Talbot Hobbs and Major General Harold Edward "Pompey" Elliott, Australian troops rescued French Lepidopterist Eugene Boullet's priceless collection of butterflies.
These specimens now form the basis of Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, Paris' butterfly collection.
Created by filmmaker Sam Hobbs, great-grandson of Lieutenant General Sir Joseph Talbot Hobbs, in partnership with the Western Australian Museum.
Image: Bo Wong Photography
