WAnderland is for travellers who have never been able to leave a locked room alone, a page unturned, or an overgrown trail ignored. It’s a guide to uncovering stories you’ve never heard, and that few have been curious enough to find. 

For the first time ever, we’ve brought together WA’s unexpected regional collections to inspire your next adventure. With the help of local custodians, we’ve mapped our State’s treasure trove of bygone tales and talismans. It’s a rediscovery of long-hidden things; a lucky dip for the weird, wonderful, odd-shaped, and eyebrow raising.
 

Hero background sparse

Wherever you choose to wander out yonder, make sure to uncover the full story of the region with a culture stop brought to you by the Western Australian Museum.

Step right in. WAnderland is waiting.

Explore

Creating WAnderland
WAnderland is the result of many months and even more kilometres. Our project team visited every featured collection in order to bring this website to life.

On our travels, we never knew what we were about to discover until we opened the door. On one occasion, that was an entire hall full of beautiful old wedding dresses; on another, it was a huge shed full of working windmills from all over the world. Surprise, we quickly learned, was the common thread between the collections.

WAnderland features traditional collecting organisations, such as galleries, libraries, archives and museums, plus many others. The collections are housed in a number of different settings: Aboriginal art and cultural centres, visitor centres, RSLs, private collections, historic buildings, and even a racing track. All are looked after by people who really, truly care.

If we can part one last word of wisdom, it would be to take your time. Embrace where you are, fully immerse yourself – maybe even have a yarn with the proud, always-welcoming hosts. This is off-road travel in the truest sense.
Portrait of Roz Lipscombe
Roz Lipscombe
Project Director

Roz Lipscombe has worked with regional and remote communities in Western Australia since 2000, in relation to heritage, arts, culture and community development. Since moving to WA in 2000, she has held positions at the Western Australian Museum, Department of Local Government Sport and Cultural Industries / Department of Culture and the Arts, and Regional Arts WA. Roz is passionate about WA landscapes and finding new ways to understand and share people and places. She regards the WAnderland project as the opportunity of a lifetime!

Bo Wong
Photographer

Bo Wong is a photographer working across the arts and culture sectors throughout Western Australia.

Her experience in collections and exhibitions has led her to contribute to many significant projects, as well as building and informing her own creative practice. Bo co-hosts Soul Traders, the podcast about creative work - and is passionate about communicating and elevating the value of the arts to a broader audience. 

She can often be found swimming among the sea life at Greens Pool, Denmark - rain, hail or shine. 

Tui Raven
Writer (Golden Outback)

Tui is an Independent Curator, Researcher, Writer and Indigenous Liaison, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Graduate Diploma of Arts (linguistics). She is excited by the world and all that it has to offer, and aims to innovate, create and educate in a culturally responsive manner. Tui finds novel approaches to artistic expression and conveying new and old information, assisting audiences to comprehend complex concepts through simple techniques such as levels of information.

www.tuiraven.com

Annette Davis
Writer (South West)

Over the last 25 years, Annette Davis has lived in the Kimberley, Pilbara and Great Southern regions of WA. The experience of living in these contrasting environments has heightened her interest in place, history and character. With qualifications in history and art history, Annette is fascinated by the layers of history of a particular place along with the contemporary experience of the location. Annette's experience includes roles as curator, artist, writer, educator and consultant.

Samille Mitchell
Writer (Coral Coast)

Samille is a journalist and filmmaker who is passionate about telling engaging stories. She gets particularly fired up about sharing the stories of the people, places and objects that make up the fabric of regional areas. Samille has been a journalist for more than 20 years, written five books, edited a nature conservation magazine, managed her own magazine and worked as a video journalist for the ABC. She is excited by all the untold stories out there yet to be discovered, crafted and shared.

Sarah Yu
Writer (North West)

Sarah Yu has worked in the Kimberley as anthropologist, curator and heritage consultant focusing on relationships between people and their connections to country. Collaborating with Traditional Owners, artists and writers she has curated several awarding-winning projects such as the Yawuru Cultural Management Plan ; Jetty to Jetty Walking Trail and App, and Lustre: Pearling & Australia exhibition. She is continues to work on cultural heritage and interpretation projects focusing on the pearling and cultural heritage of Broome and the West Kimberley.

Danny Murphy
Digital Consultant

A creative technologist who specialises in digital transformation and strategy, design thinking, digital design and development for cultural and scientific organisations.

Previously working at the award winning Western Australian Museum managing a team of developers, designers and content creators, he was responsible for the delivery of all digital based projects and the Museum’s digital strategy. Past projects include the New Museum Project (WA Museum Boola Bardip), the Museum’s website, the creation of the Exhibition Content Management System (ECMS digital repository), and the Collections WA platform.

Paul Barron
Film Producer/Scriptwriter

Paul's producer credits range from award-winning feature films such as Shame to the popular children’s/family TV series Ship to Shore and the international co-production Kings in Grass Castles. As a writer he created the series Serangoon Road, Stormworld, Parallax, End of Empire, Turning Point and Wild Kat. He loves history and describes Such Was Life as his “passion project.”