Maritime history and creativity merge in exhibition of life-size LEGO models of famous shipwrecks

Some of the world’s most fascinating shipwrecks will come alive in the form of LEGO models as a new exhibition opens in Albany this weekend.

Brickwrecks: Sunken ships in LEGO bricks combines maritime archaeology, technology and creativity to interpret five shipwrecks and a wreck site bringing their stories to life in the form of LEGO.

A partnership between Ryan “the Brickman” McNaught, the WA Museum and the Australian National Maritime Museum, the exhibition opens this Saturday at the Museum of the Great Southern.

“The Brickman” and his team of brick artists and craftspeople worked with maritime archaeologists and spent more than 800 hours using more than 120,000 LEGO bricks building the models.

The six models on display include the Batavia, RMS Titanic, MV Rena, Falcon ROV and the Uluburun and its wreck site.

The large-scale models are up to 1.6m long and vary in weight from 25kg to 50kg.

McNaught is the only LEGO-certified professional in the southern hemisphere and one of 14 in the world.

In 2019, he joined the TV show LEGO Masters Australia as the main competition judge.

Speaking to the Advertiser on the phone from Melbourne, McNaught said collaborating on this exhibition reignited his childhood interest in shipwrecks.

“It feels awesome, we’re teaching kids stuff and doing educational stuff with LEGO bricks without kids even knowing. It’s a bit sneaky but it feels good,” he said.

“The Brickman” said the project had with many highs and lows.

“Building LEGO models is one thing, we get to tour and lots of fun stuff but there’s no value in it unless we’re telling the story correctly and got all the facts right . . . the stories if you didn’t know they were true you probably wouldn’t believe them,” he said.

“Whenever you do round or curved things out of LEGO it’s hard because the bricks are square, so crazy shapes like the sails is really difficult.”

“When the exhibition got unveiled for the first time at the WA Maritime Museum and the archaeologists saw if for the first time, watching their reactions was validation.”

A wreck with tales of mutiny and murder, the Batavia model weighs 50kg with a total of 17, 615 bricks used.

Batavia was on its maiden voyage from the Netherlands in October 1628 with a cargo full of trade goods and more than 330 people aboard.

Disaster struck when the ship hit a reef at the Houtman Abrolhos off WA and only 180 people survived.

The Titanic model, with more than 12,000 bricks and taking 113 hours to build, will be displayed suspended in air to mimic its sinking.

Perhaps one of the best-known shipwrecks, the world’s then-largest ship hit an iceberg on April 1912.

In just over two and a half hours the first-class ocean liner sank, taking 1496 passengers and crew with it.

One of the oldest-known shipwrecks which sank off Uluburun, Turkey, around 1300 BCE will tell the story of the ship at the dock and the market bazaar with a separate wreck site on the sea floor.

Museum of the Great Southern regional manager Catherine Salmaggi described the exhibition as an extraordinary experience.

“Research by maritime archaeologists provides a unique record of human endeavour, engineering and a spirit of adventure inspired by trade, exploration, global politics and pursuit of maritime superiority,” she said.

Brickwrecks is on display until May 8.