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• Spectacular new museum named WA Museum Boola Bardip.
• Boola Bardip means 'many stories' in Noongar language.
• The name acknowledges Australia's First Peoples and reflects the shared cultural heritage of all Western Australians.
• 50,000 free tickets to opening celebrations in online ballot open today.

The name recognises that the museum sits on Whadjuk Noongar land, and honours the cultural heritage of Australia's First Peoples. It also acknowledges the shared cultural heritage of the nearly 2.9 million people who call Western Australia home.

It is anticipated that there will be huge demand to visit, and so 50,000 free, timed tickets for the nine-day opening celebration events will be allocated from an online ballot, which opens today (7 September). To be among the first visitors to the new WA Museum Boola Bardip, people should register for the ballot on the museum's website. 

The ballot will be open until the end of this month, closing on 30 September. At that time, ticket holders will be randomly selected. Anyone without a computer or an email address can call 1300 134 081 to register.

Each successful applicant can request up to six tickets. These timed tickets will be allocated for the first nine days of opening, from Saturday 21 November until Sunday 29 November.

During this special opening period visits will be restricted to two hours, to give as many people as possible a taste of the extraordinary stories and experiences on offer inside. The museum will move to regular hours and visitation from Monday 30 November.

WA Museum Boola Bardip has been developed with a 'people first' approach and features the voices of Western Australians sharing their stories. It is a museum about WA — about our people, our places and our relationship with the world. It will be a gateway to the State, giving visitors a taste of everything WA has to offer.

Once inside, visitors will encounter WA's unique cultural and scientific collections. From the formation of the universe to the latest inventions, from extinct dinosaurs to new species found nowhere else on the planet, Boola Bardip reminds us that WA is a place of wonder.

The name Boola Bardip was chosen in consultation with the WA Museum Aboriginal Advisory Committee and the museum's Whadjuk Content Working Group. It was translated and approved by the Noongar Boodjar Aboriginal Language Centre.

More than 50,000 people from across WA have contributed their thoughts to the development of Boola Bardip's exhibitions, programs and stories.

Designed by international architect consortium Hassell + OMA, and built by managing contractor Multiplex, WA Museum Boola Bardip will reopen on the same site the museum has occupied since it first began as a Geological Museum in the Old Perth Gaol in 1891.