The WA Museum’s Iconic, 123-year-old Blue Whale Skeleton Has Been Re-Installed

If you’ve walked through the Perth Cultural Centre any time over the past 12 months or so it will have been hard to miss the brand new Western Australian Museum being redeveloped.

The positively massive structure is really starting to take shape ahead of its November 2020 re-launch, and this week one of its feature pieces has been installed – Otto the 24-metre blue whale skeleton.

After spending 17 years in storage, the 123-year-old blue whale has been hung up in its new home, nine metres above the ground in a captivating “lunge-feeding” pose.

An online poll helped name the beast from the deep, honouring the museum’s taxidermist Otto Lipfert, who prepared the 194 bones for display after the whale (an adolescent at the time) washed up near Busselton way back in 1897.

The skeleton takes centre stage in the new museum’s heritage-listed Hacket Hall Building, and its new pose was designed thanks to Canadian specialists Cetecea, who worked with WA outfit CADDS Group to suspend Otto in state-of-the-art fashion.

Check out the video below on Otto’s installation and head HERE for more info, and keep your eyes peeled for news regarding the New Museum as it races towards that November 2020 opening.