Wrecked in the Shoalhaven - a magic lantern performance

About

Come and share in a unique experience that once thrilled audiences over a century ago. We’ll gather in the dark to see dramatic shipwrecks, hear tragic songs, laugh at funny pictures, and experience beautiful colours whirling above us.

It’s a magic lantern show!

‘Wrecked in the Shoalhaven’ will tell stories of the coast through an authentic brass and mahogany magic lantern from the Victorian era projecting actual magic lantern slides — detailed pictures painted by hand on glass, mechanically operated to produce special effects on the screen.

Contemporary musicians and singers will add the magic as we experience the Walter Hood, driven on to a reef near Bendalong during a storm in 1870, or the Dandenong, sinking off Jervis Bay/Booderee in 1876.

The dramatic images of Samuel Elyard, famous historical painter of the Shoalhaven, will be seen like never before.

But that’s not all.

There will be phantasmagoric apparitions,

Songs to sing along to,

Psychedelic experiences to plunge in to,

And there may even be a man eating rats!

This event is part of the public programming for the exhibition Liquid Mountains, on exhibition at Shoalhaven Regional Gallery, 5 December 2026 to 6 February 2027.

For family bookings of three or more people use the promotional code: FAMILY to access a 20% discount.

Performers and Participants:

Martyn Jolly
Nadia Piave
Megan Kovalik
Alister Webster
Michele Barker
Anna Munster
April Phillips
Tom Johnston
Aly Whiteoak
Anita Pollard