Broome Historical Museum

Broome Historical Museum Broome's fascinating past comes to life when you visit one of the best regional museums in Australia.

Our significant collection is housed across three heritage buildings and illustrates the settlement, society and industry of our unique town.

Town Beach (Front Beach), when swimming came with a fence. The Broome meatworks dumped its refuse into Roebuck Bay. Th...
01/10/2026

Town Beach (Front Beach), when swimming came with a fence. The Broome meatworks dumped its refuse into Roebuck Bay. The sharks noticed, and Town Beach got a netted swimming enclosure. Only one shark attack was ever recorded there, but apparently one was enough.

📸Jorgensen Collection, Broome Historical Society, 2011.818a

New wet season hours!From today, Broome Museum will be open 10am–1pm daily.A little shorter for the wet season, with ple...
01/10/2026

New wet season hours!
From today, Broome Museum will be open 10am–1pm daily.
A little shorter for the wet season, with plenty of time to have a wander through.
📍 Town Beach Reserve, 67 Robinson Street

We're open for the public holiday Monday from 10am-1pm. FREE entry for locals 😀
28/09/2026

We're open for the public holiday Monday from 10am-1pm.
FREE entry for locals 😀

Wrapped in hessian against the Broome sun, the lugger Cornelius sits in a trench at Male’s Boat Shed, Dampier Terrace i...
24/09/2026



Wrapped in hessian against the Broome sun, the lugger Cornelius sits in a trench at Male’s Boat Shed, Dampier Terrace in 1973, during lay-up, when luggers came ashore for repairs, refitting and repainting before the fleet went out again.

Fifty-odd years on, the shed's still there. Barely.

📸Linnett Collection, Broome Historical Society, 2022.210.

Broome from above, 26 June 1983.Things to do in Broome in 1983:Ride your bike all the way out of town to Cable Beach f...
17/09/2026

Broome from above, 26 June 1983.

Things to do in Broome in 1983:

Ride your bike all the way out of town to Cable Beach for a swim.
Go rollerskating at the PCYC if it's Saturday
Grab a feed at Mango Jack’s for $3.
Take the foot falcon to Town Beach for a swim
Slide down Hill 22 on a bit of cardboard.
Dig your own BMX track out of the pindan, because nobody else was going to build you one.
If you were old enough to drive, do a bog lap from Chinatown to Town Beach, out to the jetty, across to Cable Beach and back around again (and again).

Add yours below - what did you get up to in Broome in 1983?

📸Geoscience Australia, Historical Aerial Photography. Film SOC562, Frame 014, 26 June 1983. CC BY 4.0.

Broome District High School, 1984.No hats, full Broome sun, and a group of kids who look absolutely thrilled to be vis...
10/09/2026

Broome District High School, 1984.

No hats, full Broome sun, and a group of kids who look absolutely thrilled to be visited by a Governor-General.

A young Dalisa Pigram presents flowers to Governor-General Sir Ninian Stephen. Also pictured: Teacher Jim Laurenson, Principal Adam Bubna-Litic, Teacher Bill Grogan and Magda Male.

📸Alison Lawrence Collection, Broome Historical Society, 2011.145.

We recently welcomed councillors from Broome’s sister town of Taiji, together with Shire of Broome councillors and staff...
07/09/2026

We recently welcomed councillors from Broome’s sister town of Taiji, together with Shire of Broome councillors and staff.

The group toured the museum and heard more about Broome’s pearling history and its longstanding connections with Taiji and Japan. During the tour, they also viewed When You Call My Name, then on display in the Sailmaker’s Shed.

The photographic exhibition honoured civilians who died during wartime internment. Its Broome works were created with members of Broome’s Japanese community, project facilitator JoAnne Shiosaki and photographer Michael Jalaru Torres, who are pictured with the delegation.

: when "waterfront property" in Chinatown just meant it was high tide. This is the corner of Napier Terrace and Hamersl...
03/09/2026

: when "waterfront property" in Chinatown just meant it was high tide. This is the corner of Napier Terrace and Hamersley Street, c. 1955. The marsh in the middle is now Male Oval. A levee bank built in 1974 finally put a stop to the regular flooding.

📸Jorgensen Family Collection, Broome Historical Society, 2011.860.

Last week we welcomed delegates from the International Network for Translingual Japanese for a guided tour of the museum...
31/08/2026

Last week we welcomed delegates from the International Network for Translingual Japanese for a guided tour of the museum.

The group was in Broome for a workshop exploring maritime communities, language and migration, making Broome’s multicultural pearling history especially relevant. It was a pleasure to share some of that history with visitors from across Australia and Japan.

Broome’s original jetty stretched almost a kilometre into Roebuck Bay from what’s now Town Beach - a long way to walk, s...
27/08/2026

Broome’s original jetty stretched almost a kilometre into Roebuck Bay from what’s now Town Beach - a long way to walk, so it came with its own tramline. Even at that length, ships could only enter and leave on the spring high tides.

Its deepwater replacement opened at Entrance Point in 1966, at which point the old jetty’s services were no longer required. The Public Works Department’s reported 1967 solution was refreshingly low on paperwork: they set it on fire.

📸Barbara Bennett Collection, Broome Historical Society Museum.

Address

Town Beach Reserve/67 Robinson Street
Broome, WA
6725

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 1pm
Tuesday 10am - 1pm
Wednesday 10am - 1pm
Thursday 10am - 1pm
Friday 10am - 1pm
Saturday 10am - 1pm
Sunday 10am - 1pm

Telephone

+61891922075

Website

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