Holbrook Submarine Museum

About

NSW not being the natural setting for a submarine, you would expect a convoluted story behind the Holbrook Submarine Museum. You'd be right. During World War I, the town was called “Germanton”, but this was deemed unpatriotic, so it was renamed Hobrook in honour of Victoria Cross recipient Lt. Norman Douglas Holbrook. The decorated submarine captain visited the town on three occasions, giving it submarine fever. When the HMAS Otway was decommissioned in 1995, the local government petitioned to buy the hulk in memory of Captain Holbrook. A huge donation from Holbooke’s widow enabled them to secure the top-half of the submarine, which they transformed into a museum. The museum has a huge range of submersible artifacts, including escape suits, photographs, torpedo, and a genuine Jolly Roger flag (one of only three dozen left from the 300 flown by British and Australian submarines during the war). You can fire a torpedo, watch a hologram show, use the periscope to find your car, and even captain a submarine.