New museum taking shape

The soon-to-be-opened Western Australian Museum is being fitted out, with more than 30 local artists and companies being contracted to deliver multimedia, films, graphics, audio tracks and interactive experiences for the eight galleries.

Black Swan Theatre Company set builder Ben Green made a life-size wrecking ball made out of a timber frame, polystyrene and covered in fibreglass.

The display resembles the giant wrecking ball that was used to clear land in the Wheatbelt in the 1950s. 

Mr Green said he was excited for children to experience the work and hoped it would help them understand the state’s history.

“Whether or not a three-year-old child is going to take in the enormities of what this really means, they will grow up and remember the ball and later it will make sense,” he said.

The display of the wrecking ball at the new Western Australian Museum. Photo: Gabriel Oliveira. 

Graphic artists Emma Mann was commissioned to make several backdrops in the new museum.

“It’s thrilling and it’s such an honour to know that I have had a small part, a very small part in this massive job, in such an amazing project, it’s been a real thrill,” Ms Mann said.

One of the galleries at the new museum. Photo: Gabriel Oliveira. 

The $400 million project, which has created 3,300 jobs, continued to be built during COVID-19 and is still on track to open later this year.

Culture and Arts Minister David Templeman said it was fantastic to be able to provide work for local artists who had been affected by COVID-19. 

"At a time when the culture and the arts sector and in particular, performing arts venues have been dark, it has been fantastic to be able to tap in to companies like Black Swan and people like graphic artist Emma Mann, to use their creative experience," Mr Templeman said. 

He said the new Western Australian Museum was a spectacular story.

“It captures and is engrained in the stories that will be told through our new museum, our incredible indigenous history and of course it scopes a whole range of stories about our state, our place in the world and our position as a very special part of this planet,” Mr Templeman said.

The eight galleries detail the state's history. Photo: Gabriel Oliveira. 

Many of the displays are interactive. Photo: Gabriel Oliveira.