Frozen Witness: Aurora's Polar Voyages
Every day, 10am to 4pm Thursday 25 September to Monday 19 October 2026
Open 10am—4pm Note: open hours change during NSW school holidays.
Voyage back in time to the early stories of Australians in Antarctica through the journeys of SY Aurora, an Arctic whaler/sealer turned exploring vessel.
This small exhibition features Aurora’s Arctic years under Captain James Fairweather and in Antarctica, the expeditions of Sir Douglas Mawson and Sir Ernest Shackleton through the remarkable story of a wooden vessel pitched into the icy unknown.
This small exhibition includes the surviving lifebuoy and a selection of evocative objects and images from the National Maritime Collection, and other public collections, including Museums Victoria, Royal Australian Navy Heritage Collections, Canterbury Museum and the Maritime History Archive at the Memorial University of Newfoundland as well as early vision from the National Film and Sound Archive.
This exhibition is supported by the greatgrandchildren of Aurora’s Captain Fairweather in memory of their father James S Fairweather, 1926–2015 through the Australian National Maritime Museum Foundation.