A rare collection of colonial-era maritime watercolours, kept in storage for over a century, will soon be accessible to the public online. The Australian National Maritime Museum has announced that the Royal Society of Tasmania will receive a grant to digitise a significant album of artworks by Captain Owen Stanley, the ABC reported.
The project will create an interactive “digital flipbook” of watercolours Stanley produced during his survey voyages on HMS Britomart between 1837 and 1843, according to a statement from the Australian National Maritime Museum. Due to its delicate condition, the album could not be put on public display.
The funding was awarded through the Maritime Museums of Australia Project Support Scheme (MMAPSS), which is supported by the Australian Government and the Australian National Maritime Museum. The scheme provides grants to museums and other not-for-profit organisations to help preserve and display objects of national and historical maritime significance.
This digitisation grant follows a previous grant awarded to the Royal Society of Tasmania in 2025, also from the MMAPSS, which funded the initial conservation and photography of the artwork album, as reported by Mirage News.
The Royal Society of Tasmania, founded in 1843, has held the album since 1900. Its collection of over 900 works on paper is housed at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery on long-term loan, according to information published by the society.
Captain Owen Stanley (1811-1850) was a British Royal Navy officer and artist who undertook important survey work in Australian and New Zealand waters. His artworks provide a valuable visual record of the region during the colonial period.
The creation of the digital flipbook will allow the historic watercolours to be viewed by a global audience for the first time, preserving the fragile originals while making the art accessible, as the ABC noted in its report. The original story can be found on the ABC News website.