Going Places
Much to discover at Portland centre
If you haven’t been to Portland for a while, you’ll notice a stunning new building at the water’s edge of Portland Bay. In November last year, Premier Jeff Kennett opened the Portland Maritime Discovery Centre and it is very likely that many Victorians are yet to make their own discovery of this special centre that has a variety of themed displays.
Displays focus on immigration, whaling, shipwrecks, rescue, navigation, tools, underwater exploration and much more. The famous Portland Lifeboat is the centrepiece display. Thought to be the oldest intact vessel in Australia, it was manned by a crew of volunteers when it went to the rescue of two shipwrecks – the Admella in 1859 and the Julia in 1863.
Exhibits also include ‘Fossils in Fright’ showcasing many fossilised sharks’ teeth, a spectacular photographic display of underwater animals and an interactive display which reveals the tale of the ‘Titanic’ from construction to fateful collision and the discovery of the wreck.
Staff at the Portland Maritime Discovery Centre have recently completed their giant jigsaw, putting together the 15 metre skeleton of a giant Sperm Whale (pictured above). Visitors to the centre can now step inside the rib cage of this former master of the sea whose skeleton has been painstakingly removed from its beach grave and re-assembled inside the centre.
Portland Maritime Discovery Centre has a fine Galley, or restaurant, with beautiful views across the port and it is open from 9am to 5pm daily. Telephone 1800 035 567.
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