The museum explicitly houses and records the local maritime history of Ballina and the former mariners that reside in the town.

Many of the museum's founding members, as well as some current volunteers served in the Royal Australian Navy.

The museum features displays and models honouring events and history from the RAN and navies from other nations.

[2] The museum has extensive displays featuring: In 1973, the Las Balsas rafts were towed into Ballina by fishing trawlers after their journey from Ecuador.

Their journey was almost twice as long as the Kon-Tiki expeditions of 1947 and proved that people could have travelled across the Pacific in ancient times.