The museum is located near the Betico ferry terminal in Noumea.[2] It occupies a former maritime station that was donated by the Autonomous Port of New Caledonia.[3] The museum opened in 1999.[3][4] In 2009, a commemorative stamp was issued to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the museum.[5] The museum was renovated in 2013, which involved the creation of new galleries.[6]
In 2021, the museum opened a new temporary exhibition on the history of the cruise and the journey by sea from France to the territory.[7] It runs educational activities for primary and secondary school students.[8]
Collection
The museum's collection includes artefacts collected from the wrecks of the frigates Astrolabe and Boussole, which had been captained by Jean-François de Galaup de Lapérouse, a naval officer commissioned by Louis XVI to explore the Pacific.[9] It also contain objects relating other voyages to New Caledonia in the colonial period,[10] to missionary activity, and to the history of nickel.[11] The museum collection also includes the skull of a pygmy blue whale.[12]
Museologists have commented that the museum focusses on French, rather than indigenous, maritime histories.[13]
^Planet, Lonely; Harding, Paul; McLachlan, Craig (2016-11-01). Lonely Planet Vanuatu & New Caledonia. Lonely Planet. ISBN 978-1-78657-400-8.
^ a b"Port autonome de Nouvelle-Calédonie". Port autonome (in French). Retrieved 2022-01-21.
^Pascual, Fanny (2017), Nouvelle-Calédonie, Presses universitaires de (ed.), "Les musées d'histoire en Nouvelle-Calédonie et leur public scolaire", L'école calédonienne du destin commun, Le système éducatif calédonien à l'heure du destin commun, ISBN 9791091032032, retrieved 2022-01-23
^"Stamp: 10 years of the Museum of Maritime History (New Caledonia) (10 years of the Museum of Maritime History) Mi:NC 1514-1515,Yt:NC 1081a,Sg:NC 1496a". Colnect. Retrieved 2022-01-21.
^"New Caledonia Maritime Museum - NOUMEA". www.explore-newcaledonia.com. Retrieved 2022-01-21.
^""La croisière s'amuse" à découvrir au musée maritime de la Nouvelle-Calédonie". Nouvelle-Calédonie la 1ère (in French). Retrieved 2022-01-21.
^"Des cellules d'animation pédagogique dans les établissements culturels, au service des enseignants et des élèves". Vice-rectorat de la Nouvelle-Calédonie (in French). Retrieved 2022-01-21.
^Wéry, Claudine (2005-04-08). "'What news of Lapérouse?'". the Guardian. Retrieved 2022-01-21.
^"Revue Juridique Politique et Economique de NC - Accueil". rjpenc.nc. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
^Véroone, Luc (2020-03-04). Brèves de terroirs: Visites gourmandes et anecdotes (in French). Les Editions du Net. ISBN 979-10-290-1035-4.
^Garrigue, Claire et al. “Identification of a juvenile pygmy blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) in New Caledonia, South-West Pacific.” (2003).
^Jøn, A. Asbjørn; Fraser, Lyndon; Hall, C. Michael (2017). "Dugongs - the last remaining Mermaids: Beast lore (Eco-lore), Post-colonialism and maritime Cultural Tourism in New Caledonia". Australian Folklore. 32: 179–193. ISSN 0819-0852.