Navy museum closes to prepare for relocation to Torpedo Bay

After 25 years in ‘temporary accommodation’, the Navy Museum at Spring Street, Devonport is set to close its doors to the public on 30 April 2010 so that preparations can commence to set up the new Museum at Torpedo Bay.

Torpedo Bay, on the picturesque shores of the Waitemata Harbour in Devonport, Auckland, is to be the new home of the Royal New Zealand Navy Museum. Situated in the shadows of North Head in a heritage site, the new facility will be housed in the richly and historic Torpedo Bay mining base and will enable the Royal New Zealand Navy's stories to be told more fully and interactively to engage the New Zealand public.

The move to Torpedo Bay is an incredible opportunity. Torpedo Bay itself is of exceptional heritage significance having been a key part of Auckland's early defence system as well as having been continuously occupied by New Zealand military forces since 1880. Torpedo Bay is the most substantial and intact 19th century mining base to survive in New Zealand.

Relocating the Navy Museum to Torpedo Bay will see it leveraging off the sites extraordinary heritage value with the existing heritage buildings on the site being redeveloped to accommodate the new Museum. Inside; completely new permanent exhibitions will showcase the story of the Navy's contribution to the development of New Zealand's identity through the lens of the Navy's values - commitment, courage and comradeship.

Torpedo Bay will boast a café, meeting rooms, a classroom, plenty of public recreational areas and much, much more exhibition space.

The new museum will open to the public in August 2010. Further details and updates are available on the Navy Museum website at www.navymuseum.mil.nz