Shipwrecks in LEGO bricks on tour in regional WA

  • Amazing exhibition to tour to Albany, Kalgoorlie and Geraldton
  • Shipwrecks, technology and creativity, combine to thrill audiences
  • LEGO® models and objects showcase the history and fate of famous shipwrecks
  • Following its successful debut at the WA Maritime Museum, ‘Brickwrecks: Sunken Ships in LEGO® Bricks’ is going on tour to regional Western Australia, showing at Albany, Geraldton and Kalgoorlie.

    The exhibition features some of the world’s most famous shipwrecks reimagined as LEGO® models and displayed alongside real artefacts from the actual wrecks.

    Brickwrecks: Sunken Ships in LEGO® Bricks was developed by the Western Australian Museum, Australian National Maritime Museum and Ryan ‘The Brickman’ McNaught.

    The exhibition features six large-scale LEGO® models, interactive activities, multimedia exhibits, real objects and LEGO® build stations for visitors to enjoy.

    The shipwreck models, which are up to 1.6 metres in length, include:

    • the ‘Uluburun’ wreck (named after its wreck site) – one of the oldest known shipwrecks which sank off Cape Uluburun, Turkey, around 1300 BCE;
    • the Batavia, a Dutch trading vessel that sank in 1629 in the Houtman Abrolhos Islands, off the WA coast;
    • The RMS Titanic, the luxury steamship that sank in the North Atlantic in 1912; and
    • MV Rena, a Liberian-flagged container ship that sank at Astrolabe Reef, New Zealand, in 2011.

    The exhibition will be on display at the Museum of the Great Southern, Albany, until May 8, 2022 before opening at the Museum of the Goldfields, Kalgoorlie, on May 21, 2022 and then the Museum of Geraldton on August 27, 2022.

    Following the regional tour of WA, the exhibition will also travel to the Australian National Maritime Museum and will be on display from December 2022 to April 2023.

    Tickets are on sale now https://museum.wa.gov.au/greatsouthern/brickwrecks

    As stated by Culture and Arts Minister David Templeman:

    “This compelling exhibition provides incredible insights into maritime history and human endeavour. Regional audiences will enjoy seeing the incredible detail of the models including Titanic and Batavia.

    “Ryan ‘The Brickman’ McNaught and his team used a staggering 120,000 LEGO® bricks to make the shipwreck models which took more than 820 hours to build. There are lots of fun details in this exhibition including minifig scenes, hidden Easter eggs and fascinating historical facts.” 

    /Public Release. View in full here.