Maritime Museum, Brisbane

Brisbane might not be a coastal city, but Queensland has over thirteen thousand kilometers of coastline, more than the once great naval power of the United Kingdom. Its coastline has attracted nearly two thousand wrecks in its short history. The Queensland Maritime Museum, with its home on the Brisbane River, charts this history with some classic examples of Australian shipping, like the HMAS Diamantina, a river class frigate.

Wonderful display of Queensland & Australia's Maritime History. Static displays of paintings, photographs, charts and models supplemented by artifacts from the sea bed and decommissioned equipment provide a wealth of stuff to see and touch during the visit.
Centre piece of the site which is situated close to the South Bank Recreational Park is the old dry dock which houses the world's only surviving River Class Frigate HMAS DIAMANTINA plus a decommissioned light ship. A visit to the museum is worth the 6 bucks just to see this ship and to check out first hand the living conditions experienced by the crew. Kids may enjoy traversing the gun turrets and elevating the gun barrels using the original mechanisms.
The 1925 coal fired steam tug FORCEFUL is moored at the museum undergoing refurbishment which will no doubt take a lot of donations to accomplish.
Our last visit was in mid-February 2011 a couple of weeks after the devastating flooding of the Brisbane River. Thankfully the museum suffered only minor damage and most exhibits are open. However, the dry dock is no longer "dry" and much work will be required to restore it to its former dryness.
Due to the under ground car parking at South Bank still being mopped up after the flood suggest you catch the train to South Bank Station if you visit in early 2011

After seeing the Royal Australian Navy Museum in Sydney this looks to be far more substantial, the Sydney museum is in a shed the size of a shoe box. I found the best views of the Queensland museum to be from the goodwill bridge so I took a few shots, noted it's whereabouts and walked on to the South Bank.

This is situated at one end of southbank on the river in Brisbane city.

Well worth a visit to just go see.