Annual Report 2023-24
Published
A year of consolidation and growth
This past year represents a significant turning point for the Australian National Maritime Museum. The Museum has introduced fresh business and financial systems, improved staff engagement, developed major new partnerships and received outstanding visitor satisfaction results in all key market segments.
This was the first year of the new strategic plan. It sets out an ambitious framework for storytelling, research and collection, education and engagement, systems and partnerships, and our Darling Harbour site in Sydney.
The Museum aims to build on the unique position of trust that museums hold in Australia to inform, challenge and engage in conversations about our island nation shaped by sea. This mission is underpinned by key changes to systems and infrastructure undertaken this year, alongside a new Collection Development Policy based on six core content pillars: First Nations, Australia in the Indo-Pacific, Migration, Ocean Futures, Maritime Archaeology, and Society and Water.
People are at the heart of what the Museum does, so staff engagement and wellbeing the were a major focus area for the year. In a comparative review of Australian Public Service agencies, the museum recorded improved scores for staff engagement (at 73 per cent), an 11-point increase in job satisfaction (also to 73 per cent) and a 30-point improvement in enabling innovation.
Program Highlights
The Museum partnered with Oceanographic magazine to stage the world’s first museum-based Ocean Photographer of the Year exhibition. Opening in November, it featured 118 awe-inspiring images plus museum-created content.
Drawing on the established success in hosting the Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year, the exhibition drew 68,639 paying visitors who contributed an estimated $500,000 in ticket sales.
Other cornerstone exhibitions that filled the main galleries included:
Valerie Taylor: an Underwater Life, which featured the significant collection of objects and photographs belonging to Valerie and Ron Taylor.
Blueback: Sharing the Secrets and Octopus Garden were interactive experiences, with the latter being an immersive digital playspace that let younger audience members experience a day in the life of the extraordinary octopus.
A specially commissioned LEGO® build zone, developed with Ryan ‘The Brickman’ McNaught and the Great Southern Reef Foundation.
The Museum experienced strong visitor attendance across all platforms. The total visitor engagement figure of 6,814,221 was well above the target of 4,254,750 and represented a 59 per cent increase on the previous year. However, the impact of the adjacent Harbourside redevelopment can be seen in the decrease in onsite visitation. Total paid and unpaid visitors numbered 912,695, or 87 per cent of the target.
In an increasingly competitive and fragmented market, the Museum made the commitment to meet the visitor wherever they are, by providing unique experiences across all our platforms – onsite, online, digitally and through partnerships providing access to radio and television. As a result, the Museum has seen stronger than expected results in social media engagement, visits to the website, travelling exhibitions and education programs.
Throughout the year the Museum fostered national outreach and infrastructure programs across all platforms. Over 1.5M people experienced our travelling exhibitions in Australia and overseas. Nationally, 12 exhibitions travelled to 24 venues, including Mariw Minaral (Spiritual Patterns) with the support of a National Collecting Institutions Touring and Outreach program grant of $94,000, alongside Sea Monsters, Capturing the Home Front, Cats & Dogs All at Sea and Bidhiinja: Restoring our Oyster Reefs.
The full annual report can be found on our website.