Pacific scholars Deveni Temu, Prue Ahrens and Sioana Faupula explore the personal and historical accounts of lives lived with the sea, from early Indigenous populations and European venturers to contemporary travellers.

Contemporary perspectives on Pacific Islander voyaging, investigating archaeological evidence and museum displays from Pacific scholars Kylie Moloney, Melanie Van Olffen and Matthew Spriggs.

The history of trade, shipping, tourism and migration between the Pacific islands and Australia is explored by historian Jonathan Ritchie as part of Voyages of the Pacific Ancestors: Vaka Moana exhibition.

Collector Peter Lane and curators Laina Hall and Susannah Helman discuss three stories from the Australian Journeys gallery: the emotional drama of convict tokens, Alexander Mussen’s redemption on the goldfields and Muriel McPhee’s secret trousseau.

Historian Michael Cathcart critiques the new Australian Journeys gallery, which traces Australia’s interconnections with the world. Exhibition curator Martha Sear responds, in a discussion chaired by museum general manager Louise Douglas.

Guna Kinne and Carmelo Mirabelli’s stories feature in the National Museum’s Australian Journeys gallery. They join curator Karen Schamberger and broadcaster Sylvie Stern in a discussion about their lives in Europe and Australia.

Curator Martha Sear examines the evolution of the National Museum’s Australian Journeys gallery. She provides a comprehensive overview of the stories and the objects in this gallery, which looks at Australia’s connections to the world over time.

Curator Martha Sear discusses objects in the National Historical Collection that once belonged to Sir George Reid, a key figure in Australia’s Federation-era political history. Reid’s story features in the Australian Journeys gallery.

Oral historian Alistair Thomson explores the experience of migration to Australia in the 1950s and 1960s, through the eyes and life stories of four British women, during his time as a Director’s Fellow at the National Museum of Australia.

Curator Alison Mercieca tells the story of the Macassan trepang, or sea slug, industry. She considers the places connected by the Macassan voyagers from Indonesia and looks at the archaeological traces left on the Arnhem Land coast.