South Australian Maritime Museum in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia | Museum

Welcome to the South Australian Maritime Museum, Adelaide, Australia. Climb aboard a full-scale copy of a sailing ketch at the South Australian Maritime Museum. As you take the helm, listen to the seagulls crying and wheeling towards the shore ahead of the approaching storm, touch the ropes and smell the tar mingling with the salt sea air.

In the basement, experience the conditions under which early settlers sailed out from Europe. While you are in the immigrant mood, key your name into one of our computers and find out on which ship your ancestors came to South Australia. Take a nostalgic look at our sun, sea and surf antics of yesteryear in the interactive exhibition with historic film, bathing costumes, surfboards and more. Play the slot machines in the Penny Arcade. These machines entertained the holiday crowds at Glenelg and Semaphore in the 1930s and 1940s. The magnificent Bond Stores in Lipson Street, built in 1850, act as the Museum's main gallery. Lipson Street also boasts the Weman Building, originally a sail makers and ships chandlery. This marvellous two storey bank building, built in 1888, is now the Museum's administrative centre and the Lipson Street Cafe.

Just a short walk away, you'll find the Lighthouse, built in 1869. Climb the spiral stairs and take in the spectacular view of Port Adelaide, the Adelaide Plains and the Mount Lofty Ranges. Not 100 metres from the Lighthouse you can see the Museum's floating vessels, the Steam Tug Yelta, our last working steam tug, and the historic police launch, Archie Badenoch, built for military use in the 1940s. Surrounded by the magnificent buildings and streetscapes that led to much of central Port Adelaide becoming our first listed heritage area, the South Australian Maritime Museum was developed as a commemorative project for the 1986 state sesquicentenary. The Discover Adelaide Card can be used at the South Australian Maritime Museum.