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Port Adelaide Nautical Museum Collection

The South Australian Maritime Museum is custodian to one of the oldest nautical collections in Australia, a museum within a museum. The Museum of the Port Adelaide Institute was established in 1872 by local and international seafarers wanting a home for their collected treasures and curios. The collection was to become a cornerstone in the formation of South Australia’s cultural collections. In 1933 the material was reshaped as a specialist maritime collection and reborn as the Port Adelaide Nautical Museum.

Today this glorious collection is displayed in its original Victorian showcases along with handwritten labels prepared many years ago by the honorary curators.