Project Overview

The Australian National Maritime Museum and the Australian Maritime Museums Council are developing the travelling panel exhibition using content provided by the AMMC membership.  This project started out with the name What Floats Your Boat – Remarkable stories of Australians and their vessels however, after the AMMC workshop in November at Devonport at which story submissions were judged, the judging panel came to the decision that the original title of ‘What Floats Your Boat’ didn’t do justice to the stories that were submitted. They felt that the title did not represent the depth or importance of these accounts. For that reason, it was decided that our new travelling program would be now called: ‘Remarkable, stories of Australians and their boats’ . 

As part of the program, we offered AMMC members, exhibition development training and networking workshops across Australia.

The workshops engaged regional and remote venues in the creation of content for the national travelling exhibition and enable regional venues to share their stories.  The project was developed in 2019, and the display is ready to tour interested venues in 2021.  Please see project timeline below.

If you’re interested in hosting the exhibition once it is developed please contact the project coordinator, Nicole Dahlberg at nicole.dahlberg@sea.museum

Story Submissions

We are very happy to announce the ten stories that will make up our new AMMC travelling display, ‘Remarkable, Stories of Australians and Their Boats’.

After a big effort by all our participating members, there were 46 extraordinary stories submitted that represented the diversity and the different relationships Australians have with boats.

These stories covered a wide variety of themes including women in business, Australian ingenuity, Indigenous perspectives, industrial practices, immigration, war time Australia and natural disasters. 

Based on your voting and the criteria established for the selection, the panel, after much deliberation have decided on the following stories:

• Sea Legs – Albany Whaling Station
• The Original Sydney Ferryman – Australian National Maritime Museum
• From Illegal Casino to Legendary Lakes Entrance Fishing Vessel - Lakes Entrance Regional Historical Society
• One Special Book, a small boy and a boat – Tacoma Preservation Society
• A Woman of Consummate Skill – Maritime Museum of Tasmania
• A Sailor’s Premonition and Resourcefulness Saves Shipmates – HMAS Castlemaine
• Row, Row, Row Her Boat… - Maritime Museum of Tasmania
• Keeping Culture Alive – Alexandrina Council
• Floody Legends – Townsville Maritime Museum
• My Boat, My Survival – Alexandrina Council
• By Jimminy, she’s a ripper – Millicent National Trust Museum
• Going Solo– Australian National Maritime Museum

We will now work with these members to get their wonderful stories ready to start travelling the country as our new exhibition – ‘Remarkable, Stories of Australians and Their Boats’.

Thank you to all those who submitted story ideas, they made for great reading and the decision process was very difficult!

Submissions are now closed

• Submissions were able to be made by individual or institutional AMMC members.

• AMMC membership was required to be eligible to make a submission.  (Registering as a member of the AMMC is FREE and simply requires applicants to Click on the ‘sign up’ button at the top right corner of this page and complete the information requested. READ MORE 

• Stories had to be submitted in the approved format, via this Website using on online submissions form. 

• Submitted stories were ranked against a set of evaluation criteria (read more here) and they were voted by the AMMC membership via this website. 

• Votes were forwarded to a joint maritime museum and AMMC Final Review Panel, who used the AMMC member’s rankings to assist in the selection of the top 15 stories for inclusion in the touring banner display.

Workshops

• Ballina NSW - Date: Tuesday 16 April 2019 

                                  Venue: Richmond Room, 11 Regatta Avenue, Ballina, NSW

                                  Time: 10am to 3pm.

• Adelaide South Australia - Date: Tuesday 6 August 2019 

                                  Venue: South Australian Maritime Museum,  Lipson Street, Port Adelaide, SA 5015

                                  Time: 10am to 3pm

• Melbourne Victoria - Date: 25 June 2019 

                                          Venue: Celia Little Room, Mission to Seafarers, 717 Flinders Street, VIC 3008

                                          Time: 10am to 3pm

The workshops were FREE to attend, morning tea and lunch provided.  We enjoyed seeing you there!

The aim of the workshops was to invite AMMC members to create and submit content for the travelling exhibition.  The Museum and  AMMC's plan is to enable regional museums and local heritage organisations to share these remarkable stories with a national audience.

The workshops finished with a State Wrap, where attendees are invited to deliver a short presentation on activities or programs in which they are involved.

Project Timeline

• 7 February 2019 first workshop and project presentation delivered as a session at the AMMC Workshop in Hobart.
• March – June 2019 four workshops scheduled Australia wide.  More details coming soon.
• 1 April to 30 June 2019 stories submission through AMMC website.
• 30 September 2019 last day of story submissions through AMMC website.
• September 2019 Revision of the submissions and feedback with submitters.
• September - October 2019 AMMC membership evaluates and votes submitted stories via AMMC website.
• October 2019 joint AMMC Maritime Museum Final Review Panel selected the 12 most compelling stories for inclusion in the display.
• October 2019 Presentation of the exhibition delivered in a AMMC workshop in Devonport, Tasmania.
• Early 2020 Maritime Museum begins production of display - subject to funding.
• Early 2021 What Floats Your Boat graphic panel display begins tour.