Valerie Taylor: An Underwater Life

Dive into the remarkable world of an Australian marine pioneer

Valerie Taylor AM has recorded the marine environment and shared her knowledge with the public for over 60 years, staunchly advocating for better protection of the ocean, its animals and their habitats. In my time as Assistant Curator at the Australian National Maritime Museum, I became the expert and collection steward on all things Valerie Taylor. By managing and cataloguing the museum’s collection of over 9000 photographs, I intimately recorded and shared stories from Valerie’s career and creations through this exhibition, in stories catalogued with her images and in webinars to spread her message online.

This exhibition tells the extraordinary story of the life of Valerie Taylor. Through objects and images from the museum's collection, Valerie Taylor: An Underwater Life showcases the work of Valerie and her husband Ron and their significant contributions to marine conservation, diving and underwater filming.

Valerie Taylor AM with myself and some of the exhibition project team at Australian National Maritime Museum
(l:r, Daina Fletcher, Valerie Taylor, Emily Jateff, Tina Koutsogiannis and Michael Baldwin)