A small, lovingly maintained museum in the 1907 Carnegie building right on the waterfront. Tasmania's maritime story is unusually rich: 19th-century whaling and shipbuilding, the wreck of the Hobart-built clipper Otago under Joseph Conrad's command, the convict transport era, and the Antarctic expeditions that left from this harbour (Mawson's, Shackleton's, and many since). The model ships and the documentary photography are the highlights.
The museum is volunteer-staffed and the volunteers are usually retired sailors with stories worth listening to. Allow 60–90 minutes. Combine with the Mawson's Huts Replica Museum a few hundred metres along the waterfront for a fuller picture of the Antarctic connection.