14/12/2025
An example of passionate volunteers keeping local history alive!
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⚓️ Big news for Port Albert Maritime Museum 🌍
We’re proud to share that Port Albert Maritime Museum has been accepted as a Full Member of the International Congress of Maritime Museums (ICMM) — the international body representing the world’s leading maritime museums.
ICMM’s membership includes some of the most respected and visited maritime museums anywhere, including the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, Merseyside Maritime Museum in Liverpool (often regarded as one of the best maritime museums in the world), the Vasa Museum in Stockholm, the Australian National Maritime Museum, and the National Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico — probably the largest maritime museum in the United States.
To be welcomed into this global network from a small Gippsland town is something we’re incredibly proud of.
What makes this recognition especially meaningful is how we operate. Port Albert Maritime Museum is one of the only ICMM full members that is entirely volunteer-run and whose day-to-day operations are fully self-funded, without ongoing government operational support.
The only local government contribution is a contribution toward maintenance of the historic Shire-owned building itself — not the running of the museum. Any grants we receive are directed to exhibitions and capital works, not to day-to-day operations.
This milestone belongs to our volunteers — past and present — and to everyone in the community who has supported the museum along the way. It’s a powerful reminder of what committed people can achieve, even on a small scale, when heritage matters.
Thank you for being part of the journey. And if you haven’t visited in a while, we’d love to see you.
middle.of.everywhere The Bridge -Local News Discover PORT Albert Yarram
