Treasures from the collection Journey with us along the Pearl Trail
The museum marked its 30th birthday in November 2021, and throughout 2022 we will celebrate with a very special type of exhibition – a ‘Pearl Trail’ that will showcase some of the most fascinating objects from both the National Maritime Collection and private collections. Head of Acquisitions Development Daina Fletcher provides a preview.
THE PEARL TRAIL – to be installed progressively throughout 2022 – will take the form of special, regularly changing installations dotted throughout the museum. From time to time, it will also include artefacts from select private owners that have never before been seen in public.
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Many of them raise enticing and intriguing questions. How has the object survived? What is its story? Why is it so significant? How did we acquire it? And how did private collectors or owners become involved?
Important artefacts from European explorations of Australia feature prominently in the trail. They include maps and silver from 17th-century Dutch encounters along Australia’s northern and western coastlines by ships from the powerful United Dutch East India company, or VOC, sailing out of bases in the Spice Islands (now Indonesia). These encounters resulted in the first landings on Australian soil by Europeans and their first interactions with local peoples.
The Pearl Trail’s treasures include eye-opening objects from early colonial times and the maritime world of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, artefacts recovered from some of nation’s worst shipwrecks, including Batavia (1629) in the west and Dunbar (1857) in the east, the migration experiences of mid-20th-century brides or brides-to-be, and Oskar Speck’s epic seven-year kayak journey after he left Nazi Germany in 1932.
They also led to the first detailed mapping of the Australian coastline by European voyagers. Although we may think of maps as antiquated museum objects, in their day they were often sensational, top-secret documents. They afforded glimpses of new lands largely unknown to Europeans, as well as knowledge of trade routes more advantageous than those of Amsterdam’s competitors.
Signals 137 Summer 2021–22
