Australian National Maritime Museum

One of the jewels of Darling Harbor is the Australian National Maritime Museum. There is the museum proper and three museum ships which can be toured along with several smaller historical vessels that can be viewed but not boarded.

One of these smaller vessels is the TÙ DO.

This tiny vessel carried 31 people from Viet Nam to Australia after the fall of Saigon. It was captained by a brave fisherman who built the vessel himself and traversed 6500 km. with only a map from a school book and a compass. How inspiring to see this symbol of these brave people who longed for freedom.

There were three other vessels that could be toured and we did them all. First up was the HMAS Onslow, an Oberon class submarine, which served from 1969 to 1999. Brave sailors serve on these ships and to be in such a small space under water for weeks on end take a very special person.

Next up was the HMAS Vampire.

The Daring class destroyer is the only ship of her class to be preserved and was the last gun-destroyer to serve in the Royal Australian Navy.

She was named after a former ship with a storied history.

The last ship available for tour was a replica of explorer James Cook's ship, HM Bark Endeavour. Upon its completion in 1994, the new Endeavour spent 10 years sailing around Australia before becoming a permanent exhibit at the museum.

The ship is built to exacting specifications. On the deck it is full but getting around is manageable. 

Below decks it is not so roomy.

In fact, when we got to the private cabins even I had to bend over to move around.

At the stern of the ship is the only large cabin where much of the scientific study took place. 

One of the more interesting stories we were told related to the US space shuttle Endeavor which carried a spike from this ship into space on one of its missions. The spike is now in the ship Endevour as a reminder of the continuing exploration of the unknown.

Inside the museum building there were exhibits covering navigators, the Eora - first people, passengers, watermarks (focusing onAustralia's love affair with the water) and the Navy.

The final area is the Australia-US Gallery. It was a gift of the United States in celebration of Australia's bicentenary. making it the only gallery in a national museum funded by a foreign nation. It looks at the links and commonalities between Australia and the US.

We spent a very enjoyable afternoon at the museum followed by a dinner of Kangaroo with our friends Peter and Marina.