WA Aquarium’s Ningaloo, Southwest, Rowley Shoals Extension Greenlit

“The development will provide a contemporary extension to AQWA and Hillarys boat harbour, which will enhance visitor experience,” he said.

AQWA plans to extend into a grassed area to the east of the existing aquarium. New exhibits, a theatre, café, gift shop, playground and sustainability centre with a rotunda, terrace, toilets and display areas would be built.

The expansion, designed by Western Architecture Studio, was presented to the committee in the order that a visitor might stroll through the aquarium.

▲ A new ground-level entryway would replace the existing second-floor one, which AQWA acknowledges is perilous.

Through a new street-level entry to replace “dangerous” stairs to the aquarium’s current second-floor front door, patrons would pass four tanks before encountering a “striking” elliptical aquarium 12m wide and 3.5m deep.

Welcome to ‘Ningaloo’

There, at the heart of a new Ningaloo Reef exhibit, the “consistent and fast” movement of blacktip sharks would contrast with the stillness of living corals and serene schools of reef fish.

▲ Blacktip sharks would dart around the reef fish and above the living coral of AQWA’s new Ningaloo exhibit.

Through a terrace lined with smaller tanks toward another “lagoon terrace”, ankle-biters would scurry and their minders would follow. There, two displays showcasing the Rowley shoals (three coral atolls 300km west of Broome) would await.

One display would be a 3m-high reef teeming with vibrant tropical corals and antheas (a genus of small, brilliantly coloured fish). The other would be a shallow exhibit showcasing the serene lagoons of the shoals.

▲ AQWA’s Rowley Shoals exhibit would teem with coral and brilliantly coloured fish.

Awe-struck through AQWA’s existing Great Southern region exhibit and underwater tunnel (Australia’s largest fish tank), visitors would ramble on to a new ‘Megafauna of the Southwest’ display. There, the mysteries of the great white shark, humpback whale and orca would be unravelled.

▲ The Mysteries of the Southwest exhibit would enlighten visitors as to creatures that cruise beneath the sea near Margaret River.

Culminating the visit would be a domed theatre projecting a three-dimensional, semi-spherical video over the heads of the audience.

Tourists and locals alike would be “fully immersed in an awe-inspiring underwater experience”. The 125-seat cinema would be housed in a 10m-high dome and “blend cutting-edge technology with ocean exploration”.

▲ A rendering of a great white shark cruising, virtually, above AQWA’s planned 125-seat 3D cinema.

From the cinema, a new exhibition space would inexorably lead visitors to a gift shop and outdoor playground where children could “stretch their legs” while adults enjoy “a reprieve” in a nearby relocated cafe.

The project would likely be built in stages, with the sustainability centre to follow the rest of the work. 

Pushed to capacity post pandemic

AQWA told state planners the aquarium had been pushed to capacity by increased visitation since the pandemic.

The extension would allow AQWA to host more visitors. It would likely be built in stages, with the sustainability centre to follow the rest of the work. 

During the project’s consultation phase, 34 submissions were received, with 32 in support and two opposing the revamp.

WA’s Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage said the projected project cost of $13 million was low for a large-scale public building. But AQWA said the estimate reflected the cost to construct the “shell” and exterior of the extension and the aquarium would build its own displays at additional cost.

AQWA attracts 270,000 visitors a year. It opened as Underwater World Perth in 1988, not long after the boat harbour was launched.