Ballina Naval And Maritime Museum - Ballina
Direct Phone Number : (02) 6681 1002
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This museum is home to the LA BALSAS raft
On May 27,1973 three balsa rafts left Ecuador and arrived at Ballina on 21st November 1973. The aim of the expedition was to prove that ancient civilisations from South America could have traversed the Pacific in large numbers to populate the Pacific Islands and Australia. One recreated raft was constructed from two of the rafts and along with other items from the expedition are on display at the museum. The history and a video record of the expedition is available at the museum.
Other features of the museum include a reference library of over a thousand books, naval ships of the past century and paintings of warships by ex-navy artists, hundreds of models of ships and aircraft of all types, The larger models are approximately 4 metres long. There are several marine engines, a 21" torpedoe and many artifacts from ships, there are sections with thousands of photographs devoted to the maritime history of the Richmond river and historical data about the port of Ballina, replicas of a messdeck, the wheelhouse of a naval ship, an original letter from Lord Nelson, etc, etc..