Australian National Maritime Museum

The Australian National Maritime Museum is a wonderful place to explore and learn. It offers a rich and interactive experience, especially if you're curious about Australia’s maritime history, naval heritage, and ocean exploration. The exhibits are well-organized, informative, and suitable for all ages. From historic ships to submarines and modern maritime stories, there’s a lot to see and engage with. It’s not just about reading — there are hands-on displays and real vessels you can board, which makes it feel immersive and exciting. I found it to be both educational and enjoyable — a great spot to visit whether you’re a local, a student, or a tourist. It’s a museum that makes learning feel fun and meaningful.

My little boy liked this museum. The sea creature sculptures and helicopter was interesting. The boats outside also look a lot of fun to explore. We will see them another time. There are free exhibitions and paid exhibitions in the museum.

Well worth every dollar. You have the opportunity to enter a submarine (I couldn't because I have mild claustrophobia) and a daring class destroyer HMS Vampire. It even had cute vampire symbols. There was also a magical phone exhibition -animals, wildcats, fish. We spent around 3 hours including the visit of Endeavor.

Visiting the Australian National Maritime Museum was an enjoyable experience. I have previously been on a few other occasions. As the name suggests, the museum is dedicated to the history of Australia as it happened in and around the sea. I particularly enjoyed learning about the migrant history and how many Australians came to the country on a ship or boat. There is also an area dedicated to naval history, and I found that interesting, too. Many of the displays remain the same in the museum, but in terms of the free exhibitions, some of the displays downstairs change. There are also a lot of ships outside that can be viewed and entered if you purchase a separate ticket. General entry is free. Staff were very knowledgeable, friendly, and helpful.

I enjoyed spending an afternoon at the Maritime Museum. They had an interesting variety of exhibitions catering for all ages and interests, including a room filled with a variety of cushions and a video running, which seemed to be quite popular with kids, and a good break for parents! I appreciated the accessibility of the museum, with ramp and lift access to nearly everything, and automatic doors to enter the museum on both sides. I wasn't able to access were the very top viewing platform, which didn't seem to have much up there to miss from what I could tell. I also couldn't explore the ship or submarine, but I appreciated that there was an accessible area where they had information and items to explore in the building which provided entry to them. There was also a sign indicating some sort of VR experience, but it didn't seem to be there. The staff were all fantastic too. I was able to store my bag at the front desk area and pick it up when I was done, and they were very helpful at directing me to the lifts so I didn't have to use the long ramp to get up to the first floor exhibits. I also thought it was fantastic to see that they had thought about accessibility for people who are blind or have low vision, with we code for audio information available, and even tactile examples from the photography awards! Very cool! One thing I would have liked to see though would be subtitles as default on the videos playing in a couple of places.

This is a must mention review. The Australian national maritime museum is the one and only museum that hosts all the maritime collections from the past that respects all the first nations. Apparently I work here as a volunteer and the experience is amazing. The museum holds all kinds of historic and modern vessels (boats) that were used for voyages back then with its exact condition or some in with exact replicas. The stories behind all of them are fascinating as you go around. Another thing would be the galleries, they show all kinds of maritime collections as much as you can go deeper in understanding them is available. They also have a cafe with great variety of food options and a store to collect some goods by the museum. The staff is really polite. This is a must visit place to explore the maritime experiences. They also have different shows that depicts life under water.

Great museum for busy kids. Kids need to be over 90cm to walk on the ships so my husband and I had to alternate with our toddler, but our two boys (4 and 5) loved it. Highly recommend

This place is truly wonderful for families to spend time together. Children will have a remarkable opportunity to learn and explore, discovering so much about submarines, warships, and the mysteries of the sea. It's a great chance for bonding and creating memories while gaining new insights that can inspire curiosity for years to come.

MuSeaUm. Interesting to see the historic ships at the Australian National Maritime Museum. Had a nice view both from land and from the sea.

There is so much to see here and it is spread out. Take your time to read the information and to absorb the atmosphere. The ships on the outside of the museum are so impressive to look at without even stepping foot into the building. Obviously it is a quieter time to visit mid week. The cost to enter the museum is reasonable. The gift shop is well stocked too.

Harbor museum that includes ships and building displays. Located in Darling Harbor, it's easy to find just across the water from the aquarium and wildlife buildings. The maritime museum consists of several buildings and almost a dozen ships. Pick up a map at the entrance and have an employee Matthew ships for their closing times. It will help you make your best path not to miss any vessels. They each have various and limited hours. Because of this I chose to do all the ships first, then spend time in the buildings that were open longer. The harbor had the restored tall ship, James Craig, Cape Bowling Green lighthouse, replicas of the Endeavor and Duyfken, several small historic boats in the Historic Fleet dock, the submarine Onslow, and HMAS Vampire. Take your time there's a lot to see and wander every nook on the ships. Wharf 7 building houses the Wooden Boat Exhibition. The entrance building to the Vampire has a great film of war footage from WWII that loops about every 15 minutes. The main building lower level has a cafe, wildlife photography gallery, Navy gallery, hall Shaped by the Sea. Upper level currently has a brickwrecks exhibit- ships created from Legos. Also The Passenger Gallery, Eora Gallery, and Under Southern Skies. You really have to watch your wandering, there's no clear direct path and might miss a small exhibit. Plenty of parking.

The huge Maritime Museum honors Australia's relationship with the sea including indigenous canoes, surf culture, immigration & the navy. Included with admission was a short film Action Stations and tours. HMAS Onslow submarine, destroyer HMAS Vampire, were moored outside. Unfortunately, they were filming today & the Museum was closed to the public. We were able to see the outdoor attractions.

This review is overdue! We visited in January. This review is only for the "free" attractions. Hubs isn't a huge museum person so he'll do free ones on occasion, and paid ones that are renowned. We went for free this time ;) I enjoyed the model ships the most. I'm a huge fan of to-scale models. The smaller the detail, the more awed I am... and this museum did not disappoint in that regard!!! But why only 3 stars? Because there was only so much to see for free. :( and the paid attractions weren't going to work for my mobility scooter so that wasn't an option for us. C'est la vie... while it wasn't for us and our particular situation, I'm betting I would've enjoyed it more if I could've actually gone onto the ships :)

Who knew the maritime relationship between the US and Australia has been so extensive? I came here to check out yet another free museum while wandering Darling Harbour. It's an enormous museum, so if you were to read every tidbit, it'll take hours. But it's mainly about the boats that have been used for wars, immigration, transport, and travel. I'll admit, it was a bit dry for me, so I skimmed most of the information and mainly looked at the boat models. The most interesting part for me was seeing Kay Cottee's boat. It's pretty kid-friendly too, with periscopes available to look through and submarines to explore. I'd recommend if you're in Darling and have an hour or so to kill.

If you just want a taste of what Australian National Maritime Museum offers, you have the option to visit their Permanent Collections and Wharf 7 Heritage Centre for Free! Yes Free! You can do that as a walk in or even pre order that online to save some time. I really enjoyed all the Waterfront exhibit as it is always more fun to look at the actual vessels and great for taking photos! Located right in Darling Harbour, worth a visit if you like ships, boats and more!

Located on Darling Harbor, federally funded, designed by Philip Cox and being the only such museum having a foreign funded gallery, that by the United States of America, is beautiful, immense and massive not only in form but in informative detail. It's a definite must see and as a tip, plan on spending a solid full afternoon if not a full day. It's really that big and takes that much time, but your time will be well spent. With the possible exception of Museo Naval de Madrid it's the most complete maritime museum I've seen. It has three in the water museum ships - the HM Bark Endeavour Replica, being the ship of Captain Cook which has docents eager and willing to explain every detail of the ship, its voyages and historical importance, the destroyer HMAS Vampire, and the submarine HMAS Onslow, also open to the public viewing, while smaller historical vessels also berthed water can be seen but not boarded. The inside of the museum is full of displays including entire ships along with all sorts of maritime artifacts. The displays are not only artfully, eye appealing in their presentation, but some are delightfully whimsical and humorous such as, and my favorite, a sailing ship built entirely of beer cans.

As good as it gets. Staggeringly large, packed with offerings and learning, and an architectural beauty. Keep your eyes open in little booklets for 20% discount tickets. Hop on board a patrol boat, destroyer, and a sub. Ask these old volunteers some questions. They are all absolutely delightful and make it an even better experience. Saunter around the boats by the dock, and hop inside for a quick meander through the exhibits. I absolutely adored the maritime museum. A visit that's definitely worth it as the scenery in the harbour is every bit as exceptional as the museum itself!

This museum has multiple free permanent exhibits as well as rotating special exhibits that you can pay to see (at a very reasonable price). It's very well laid out and packed full of info. Multiple forms of media, from pictures to artifacts to videos and recordings. We particularly loved the special exhibit for National History Museum Photographer of the year. I also learned a lot at the "Passengers" exhibit, which focused on Australia's history of immigration and discrimination. It was really poignant to see how families were torn apart because of the deportation policy of the time. We also loved going onto each ship/submarine. The volunteers were fun and knowledgeable, and I recommend taking a guided tour of each vessel if possible. I also thought the "first lady" exhibit featuring Kay Cottee, the first woman to circumnavigate the world, was particularly intriguing. There can be crowds on each tour, so I would recommend trying to go on a weekday or at times where crowds are less likely.

I think this is a must visit if you're in Sydney. You get to tour a couple of ships, a diesel submarine and the museum. The volunteers are very knowledgeable and are super helpful. They just love talking about everything about the ships from the weapons used, the food that the sailors would eat and other general ship knowledge. 20% military discount

Great place to spend a day if you are interested in maritime history. They have many displays and movies that you could view and see. They also have many ships that you could board and explore

The one thing that I tend to find with museums is that after spending a certain amount of time in one I really have to go off and do something else. This was the case with this Museum as it is actually pretty large (and it looks like they are making it even larger in the not too distant future). Anyway, everytime I go to Darling Harbour I see these massive naval ships sitting at dock, and when I was in Sydney last I decided that I would actually go and check the out. I have to say that they are pretty large, especially the Vampire (which I have to say is a heaps cool name for a destroyer). Fortunately they offer tours of the ship, so you can actually get a better idea of what each room is (especially since I never thought that the operations room would be located in the middle). You can also crawl around inside a real submarine, which I have to admit is pretty awesome in itself.

Hunt for Red October! Right out of a Tom Clancy novel, the maritime museum offers a live exposure for all submarine fans. While deciding between the various packages, I questioned why the destroyer HMAS its called the Vampire, and pat came the reply, Take the tour to find out! Curious to see the insides of a submarine, I finally settled on buying the Navy Ticket. The guided tours are filled with deep history and insider knowledge of the maritime warfare. The HMAS Vampire (Still curious? I'm not going to spoil it for you, you will have to visit and find out for yourself) is Australia's largest museum vessel. There is something spell binding about seeing big Guns and realising the power of these vessels. I enjoyed listening to the recordings too. You can get a bit sea sick if you stay on board too long though. What makes this place 5 star awesome, is the Submarine! It is Massive, although the entrance port hole doesn't provide any clue. I could easily stand up without bumping your head or having to crawl. I am short and this is one place where that's an advantage! And it's definitely not claustrophobic. It's thrilling to go from one cabin to another and seeing the various controls and bunkers and kitchen and radars and gadgets. No words can do justice to the feeling of being inside a submarine.

This is one of the best museum to come and visit. Get the Big Ticket which gives you access to every exhibit including the special exhibit. You get to go in an actual submarine and an amazing 19th century ship and of course one of the navy ships. This also includes going inside the light house and again great place to go and check out with friends, and kids if you have any. Went in at 930 AM and left at 3 PM, and still didn't cover the entire place. Definitely worth taking the day to go and check out

It all started with me complaining to Bill about what a rip off Sydney Wedding Venues are. I wasn't looking for a standard wedding factory like Doltone House and all the good restaurants were super expensive and couldn't guarantee a cruise ship wouldn't block the view. After a 10 second Google search Bill said "What about Maritime Museum?" This is why I married this guy. I didn't even know Maritime did weddings and my dad and step dad were both sailors so it was a fitting venue. Even if you don't have a Maritime connection I would (and do) recommend this place to everyone. Maritime do a lot more corporate functions than weddings so they are pretty accommodating as they'd be unlikely to be running two functions on one weekend. This meant we could drop stuff off before the weekend and pick it up after, taking advantage of those wedding supplier week day delivery rates. The venue is pretty unique. We had cocktails and canapés on the war ship HMAS Vampire before the reception and honestly everyone was so impressed I could have ended the wedding there. Someone actually thought I got Government permission to use the thing. Ha! There are a couple of rooms to choose from. We went with the Terrace Room. Huge floor to ceiling windows to take advantage of the harbour view. The room is of the style of the building so takes a little decorating but it scrubbed up pretty good. The chairs are not great for a wedding and need to be covered so I rented Tiffany chairs instead. The catering is run by an external company Laissez Faire and they did an amazing job. The food was incredible and they catered to the weirdest requests - all the Fijians need well done steak, my Nanna will make ugly faces if her food is cooked in oil, etc, etc. nothing was a problem. The price per head is pretty good (although you lose perspective pretty quickly when planning a wedding. $145 for the base (alcohol) package and three courses plus cake service with tea and coffee plus another $12.50 per head for the cocktails. There is a minimum guest number of 100 adults (under 18s are $100 per head and kids $50 but don't count towards the minimum spend). Vendor meals are $50 too. Feed your vendors. They work hard. The venue people do all the set up and pack down so there is nothing to worry about except having a great time. There is a room for the bridal party with lots of couches which is also great when all the kids start dropping off towards the end of the night. Oh yeah, also being an Irish family I had words with the staff before hand along the lines of no one should have to search for a drink or a top up. They were very heavy handed with the booze. As it should be.

Stayed in sydney for 3 days and this was by far my favorite place to vist. Going onto the old Navy ship and submarine was well worth the money.

Love boats? You will love the National Maritime Museum! It's definitely a great place to learn more about Australia's link to the sea. Check out their core exhibitions featuring Sea Journeys, Navy, Navigators, Watermarks, Commerce and Australia-USA. Entrance to most exhibits is free so make the most of your visit! All the exhibitions are highly informative and really fascinating. Special exhibitions and replicas of historic vessels are awesome too. If you're planning a visit, the National Maritime Museum is open every day 9:30am to 5:00pm and up to 6:00pm in January. The museum is closed on Christmas Day.

This is really a nice museum with exhibits outside and inside. It cost about $30 but that looks reasonable for all the stuff that you get to enjoy. Just the upkeep on the vessels must be a tremendous expense. You can spend several hours if you enjoy maritime displays.

The Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour has both factual and entertainment elements. The museum has information on all facets of the Australian maritime museum from ship building to naval boats, discoveries and so on. It is very much linked to the colonisation of Australia and its history in relation to ships. For boating enthusiasts, this museum makes for an interesting day out. There are plenty of events and exhibitions at the Maritime Museum, with staff contributing their knowledge and expertise to any willing ear. They are only too happy to answer any questions you may have about boating and the industry. A day trip to the museum is not limited to browsing- you can actually climb aboard some of the boats displayed! They have a mixture of temporary and permanent displays and visitors are able to become a member if they wish ($65 for one year for an individual). Entry is free, however, if you want to gain entry to the temporary exhibitions you will have to pay between $12-$32 for an adult ticket.

This should have been a higher priority on our short visit to Sydney area. Too much to see and so little time. The highlight for me was the 'Shackleton: Escape from Antarctica' exhibit now on display through Apr 2016. Lots and lots of different exhibit areas. Go to the museum website, http://www.anmm.gov.au/ to plan your time there. It is easy to spend many hours. Don't overlook the ships outside from the days of iron men on wooden ships to a modern naval destroyer. The volunteer docents aboard the HMB Endeavour added a great deal to the visit. Be sure to stay and hear their tales. I posted photos of a few exhibit as of May 2015.

I was here for a conference, not to see the exhibits. It was a small (~40 people) conference, but this was a perfect venue for that size event. Their conf room overlooks Darling Harbour, with all the skyscrapers of the city behind. The facilities were standard: long display tables, round seating tables. Staff were excellent with providing things for setup and catering on cue. Only downsides: their TV was too small for presentations, even for our group. And the lobby noise from all the groups of schoolkids permeated the conf room.

A magnificent place that you can spend hours in. I could spend days in there.

I was here for a conference, not to see the exhibits. It was a small (~40 people) conference, but this was a perfect venue for that size event. Their conf room overlooks Darling Harbour, with all the skyscrapers of the city behind. The facilities were standard: long display tables, round seating tables. Staff were excellent with providing things for setup and catering on cue. Only downsides: their TV was too small for presentations, even for our group. And the lobby noise from all the groups of schoolkids permeated the conf room.

We did not get to go in and see any of the exhibits because we ran out of time. My husband loved this museum and wants to go back if we come bacon to Sydney!! We had great tour guides on the ships we toured. Each tour took about 20-30 minutes. Worth the trip and worth donating!!!!!

The submarine and destroyer were fascinating. Excellent access, tours, and explanations. This would have been worth twice the cost yet it was affordable, to mention nothing of the museum itself.

The ships are good and you get to be a big kid and climb all over them inside and out . Museum is pretty informative great for pre teens .

This museum is something I chose to visit on a day with rain predicted. I hoped for better. I am not qualified to comment as a museum administrator visiting someone else's museum. I have walked through many museums. This museum offered some challenges starting with access. Taxis are not allowed to get close which is a problem for a person with mobility challenges. Upon leaving, one realizes it is about 300 meters to the nearest taxi stand. Bus stops are in front of the museum if you are a local or well educated on bus routes. Inside the museum upper levels are accessed by ramps or stairways. There are elevators, I suppose, but when we attempted to use one, it was blocked by new exhibit construction. There is no map of the galleries which means that you don't know what you are going to find as you walk around. There were some interesting exhibits but we stumbled on them accidentally. The ships sounded interesting but after a couple of hours didn't feel up to it. The museum store was interesting.

I visited the museum on the 26/05/17 with my school as part of the 'Escape from Pompeii' exhibition. The talks by Andrew Wallace Hadrill and Peter Keegan were extremely pleasant and i think i can speak for everyone when i say we learn a lot, as there was a great amount of information and knowledge. However, the second part of the day where we went around the exhibition was unpleasant. We were told inaccurate historical information such as 'Pliny the Elder died of a heart attack', when in fact, he died by an asthma attack. We were also told that there were bones in the body plasters, when there was not actually. Furthermore, the teacher guides were extremely rude, and the tone we were talked to in was very offensive. Words such as "princess" were used in a disrespectful way and was inappropriate and uncalled for. Teacher guides of the groups around us were also rude to our school and screaming at us for no reason whatsoever. Additionally, we were rushed through the exhibition and did not get the opportunity to interact or engage with the artefacts, or ask questions and read the information about each artefact. Overall, the first part of the day was excellent, but the second could have been much, much better. Hoping for future improvements so we can come again.