Albany Then & Now exhibition opens to public displaying how the city has evolved over the years ahead of 2026

Albany Then & Now exhibition opened to the public on Friday at the Museum of the Great Southern and is one of the fist events that marks Albany’s bicentenary. The exhibition will allow visitors to explore Albany’s history and pairs historic and modern panoramas to show how the city has evolved over time. It allows for audiences to discover the evolving stories of Albany through a visual exhibition that links history with culture and community. Associate professor and project leader at the Curtin HIVE, Andrew Woods partnered with the WA Museum to bring this exhibition to life. “We’ve got a total of 37 panoramas of Albany dating as far back as 1832 depicting Albany from all sorts of different locations,” he said. “One of the key aspects of the exhibition is the ability to look at the historical panoramas and fade to the modern-day view to see what and how things are changing. The exhibition features a large curved screen showcasing the panoramas with an immersive audio-visual experience narrated by local experts and historians as well as other interactive elements and hands on activations. “Through the kiosks or website the visitors have the ability to jump around the city and see all sorts of the city from different angles,” Mr Woods said. “We’re very blessed and fortunate to have these wonderful insights into what Albany looked like then and allows us to compare what’s changed. “One common thing that people do when they see the panoramas is look for their house or where they work and see how much its changed. It’s nice seeing the different ways people engage with the materials.” Albany Then & Now will be available to view until June next year.