Queensland Maritime Museum facing permanent closure

The Queensland Maritime Museum (QMM) is facing permanent closure as of New Year's Eve if it does not receive urgent funding.

In an internal email to volunteers, members and stakeholders reported by the ABC, QMM Chief Executive, Emma Di Muzio announced that, because it had not yet been able to secure ongoing operational funding, "fiscal planning and projections" had the institution closing permanently on 31st December to "avoid insolvency", because it had not yet been able to secure ongoing operational funding.

Di Muzio’s communication advised “unfortunately, with no confirmed income at this point in time, QMM's board and management will use November's closure (and time of reduced expenses) to plan as best as possible for the future.

"QMM's operations are not providing anywhere near the revenue required to meet expenses and are therefore unsustainable."

The volunteer-run not-for-profit attraction only recently reopened its doors to the public but with low visitor numbers, a decimated volunteer base and costly cleaning fees, it has entered a month-long state of hibernation in an effort to stay afloat.

Di Muzio advised earlier “at the beginning of March when COVID started to infiltrate communities and all of Australia, we closed our doors because we would have a lot of people coming straight off cruise ships … especially international tourists.

"We had tourists coming in and the first people to greet them would be people who are now deemed to be vulnerable.”

The Museum, situated along the Brisbane River at South Brisbane, reopened in mid-September under a COVIDsafe plan.

The Museum's board Chair, Captain Kasper Kuiper, told ABC News on Friday that it had not yet been confirmed if it would close at the end of the year because it was still seeking urgent donations.

Captain Kuiper advised “if there are no visitors coming through the door, we need a big injection from private funding, corporate funding and government help, otherwise it becomes very difficult to pay the bills.

"We have some opportunities that we are looking at to get some donations from investors, from the private sector, and again we have lobbied the State Government for funding.

"If that comes off, we are OK and we can keep our doors open until March."

Images: QMM is host to Second World War Australian Navy frigate HMAS Diamantina (top) and the  Museum is situated on the banks of the Brisbane River (below). Images courtesy of the Queensland Maritime Museum.