Sign in

Australian Spy Museum

@aus-spymuseum.bsky.social
553 followers 263 following 440 posts

Our mission - is collection, preservation, sharing and education on the history of espionage, and evolution of modern threats. Our vision and goal - is to establish an independent and permanent museum home for our collection and educational programs.

PostsRepliesMedia
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Australian Spy Museum's first exhibition is now on at the Lyox Gallery, 17 Lyons Road Drummoyne. There's LOTS of fascinating spycraft history on display. We're open Wednesdays - Sundays 10:30 - 5:30pm, and open until 8pm Fridays and Saturdays during October. #sydney #spycraft
23011
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Love vintage spy film posters - here's a few candidates for framing to hang on the walls at our Sydney exhibition. We'll mix interesting technical artefacts with items from the cultural history of espionage. Sounds posey but it'll look great.
060
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Australian Spy Museum has some more events coming up - the afternoon of Tuesday 27th October we are at Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts with the film "The Imitation Game" followed by a Q&A talk and demonstrations. Tickets at link below. www.eventbrite.com.au/e/cracking-t...
eventbrite.com.au
Cracking the Code: An afternoon of Espionage History
An afternoon of cinematic brilliance followed by top-shelf espionage history!
1104
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
John Anthony Walker led the Cold War's infamous Walker Family spy ring. A radio and cryptographic specialist on multiple ships including the nuclear submarine Simon Bolivar - he stole and sold to the Soviets huge amounts of material via Minox and 8mm film cameras, plus straight document theft. 1/3
172
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Sydney needs more "Nerdy Things to Do" especially for young people. As part of the Science Week activities at Chau Chak Wing Museum I'm offering a 40 minute Enigma machine demo talk (book a ticket below) and following that a more casual display & blitz talks. events.humanitix.com/the-enigma-m...
events.humanitix.com
The Enigma Machine - Live demonstration and explainer
As part of SMRI’s Science in the Museum event, Mike Pritchard from the Australian Spy Museum will conduct a live demonstration of a configured Enigma machine.
062
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
This is just fantastic
070
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
We're doing something new with a spycraft show 'n tell at the intimate cocktail bar Dulcie's Kings Cross this Sunday night. Spaces are very limited, tickets via Dulcie's site. www.dulcieskingscross.com.au/event-detail...
dulcieskingscross.com.au
Spycraft: From Mata Hari to the Bay of Pigs (Special Edition Sunday History Talk) | Dulcie's
Our Sunday History Talks are back, and this time we're stepping into the world of spies. For one special evening, we're joined by Mike Pritchard, founder and curator of the Australian Spy Museum, for ...
020
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
@aus_spymuseum Featured Artefact this week is a 1981 Stasi infrared camera briefcase for night surveillance. Outside - you see the fake latch that conceals a lens and the bag has three openings behind the faux leather, these allow Infra Red flashes to pass through. Fantastic kit 1/2 more ...
142
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
When the Imitation Game met Harry Potter @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social was at @sydney.edu.au this afternoon and there are thousands of people here for graduation (congrats to all). It took a bit of patience to get a suitably moody pic with no bystanders, made easier by the already monochrome sky.
A moody montone image of a WWII vintage Enigma cipher machine sitting on a stone wall, the backdrop is the gothic revival archicture of University of Sydney quadrangle building
130
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Aus Spy Museum recently acquired more Australian Womens Army Service (AWAS) uniforms for our WWII women codebreakers collection. Alongside British WRNS and US WAVES, our AWAS and Navy WRANS helped collect and analyse the intelligence that would turn the tide of WWII. #cryptography #intelligence
0112
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Interested in espionage and spytech history? @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social Featured Artefact this week is an early 70's Alpha One. Made in the US by Amerex especially for the IC, the Alpha One succeeded the 1960's EDI mini reel to reel recorders used by allied agencies including ASIO. 1/2 more ...
Pictured is a micro recorder from the 1970's that fits in the palm of the hand, next to an honorary award bearing the legend "Rome Station: Europe Mission Centre" and Clandestine Service arrowheadPictured is the recorder opened up and with accessories shown, notably a pair of microphone capsules that can be pinned under clothingPictured is the Alpha One's proprietary design cassette cartridge with its distinctive figure 8 design, sitting on the palm of a handPictured is a closer view of the honorary award bearing the legend "Rome Station: Europe Mission Centre" on a wooden base. Thee Clandestine Service arrowhead is featured on a figurative dagger embedded in the base.
161
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Australian Spy Museum Featured Artefact this week is a 1960's KGB Nyrok camera designed for Kompromat photography - that is, capturing extortion material to use against Western diplomats and corporate types. Long before Epstein it was a KGB expertise. #Cameras #Espionage #ColdWar 1/2 ... more
Pictured is a vintage KGB "Nyrok" Kompromat camera, it is very distinctive due to the 40cm probe lens that was designed to take pictures through holes drilled in adjoining rooms.The camera itself is fixed focus but from the rear you can see the viewfinder has a focus adjustment that would aid in observation modeTo use the camera a hole is drilled from an adjoining room, only a 1mm hole is needed through the wallpaper to be able to take picturesMounted on the front of the camera is an unusual lever - this switches the light path between observation mode and taking pictures.
1112
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
Interested in espionage / tradecraft history? Here's a quick (22 minute) tour of some of Australian Spy Museum's toys displayed at BSides Adelaide in 2024. www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqnL... Follow us here for more cool retro spycraft.
youtube.com
(392) Tools of the Dark Side | up close with genuine rare espionage equipment | Stasi KGB CIA ASIO
YouTube video by Pocket Women
182
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
With ANZAC Day coming up our Featured Artefact this week is the Australian A510 radio, as used by our Army and SAS units in Borneo and early years in Vietnam. The A510 was a portable HF (High Frequency) transceiver developed in the early 1950’s by Amalgamated Wireless Australasia (AWA). 1/3
150
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
@aus-spymuseum.bsky.social Featured Artefact this week is a 1980's Stasi concealed camera briefcase. A spring-powered Robot camera is driven by: - A microswitch trigger (location in x-ray), and - A battery-powered solenoid on the shutter release Each press of the microswitch is one exposure 1/2
184
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
This month we added further to an already amazing collection of items related to Alan Turing - mathematician, codebreaker, computing & AI pioneer. If you have secure exhibit space in Sydney for something incredible that will draw an audience, we'd love to talk.
061
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
Australian Spy Museum features some Moscow artefacts A transparent chair for secure meeting rooms - even the bolts are made of perspex so there are no places to hide a bug And parade jacket of a Signals NCO of the Moscow Region FSB Follow Australian Spy Museum for more retro-espionage goodness.
A highly decorated military jacket sitting on a transparent perspex chairSeen from the side you can tell that even the bolts and threads holding the chair together are completely transparentThere are no places anywhere on this chair or similar tables where you could hide a listening deviceThe jacket is from the Moscow Region of FSB - the Russian Security service, it is of a dark olive green colour, with prominent tassled epaulettes, large shoulder badges, and many other badges on the chest
042
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Here's a bonus @aus_spymuseum object this week. I've acquired most of the gear from the surveillance post in "The Lives of Others". This week we added a Robotron typewriter and these look Freaking Awesome together. Who knows someone in Sydney that might like to host a jaw-dropping spycraft popup?
0103
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
This weeks @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social objects are from ground zero for the Cold War - immediate postwar Berlin. Signed photo of Reinhardt Gehlen of Germany's Abwehr intel service, plus an Abwehr SE109/3 spy radio. Also two German subminiature cameras - a late 1930's SOLA and a "Ritterkreuz" Minox.
041
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
This week's Featured Artefact - ultra rare Yugoslavian KZU-31 teleprinter cipher machine. The 1990's Balkan Wars destroyed just about all the JNA's original equipment, I cannot find another example or even other photos online. Follow @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social for retro spycraft goodness. 1/2
092
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Australian Spy Museum Featured Artefact - rare subminiature spy cameras - from Left to Right: c1980 The stunning EFBE 😍 made by Franz Brinkert c1962 Stasi Uranus 5 creates 2mm x 1.5mm Mikrats c1960's Soviet GRU SRC-1 - is one of only five examples known, I'm very happy to bring this to Australia
091
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Australian Spy Museum Featured Artefact this week is one of our surveillance listening stations. We have a few of these from both East & West and its interesting to see how they compare, and evolved over time. Follow us here for more retro-spookery 1/2 more ...
1197
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
Thanks @SecTalks for the invite to present on Tuesday, and to @Atlassian for hosting 😀 @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social presented "The Enigma Machine - Live Demo'd and Explained" with hands-on time. As a bonus we included these rare cipher devices used in WWII Occupied France. Have a great weekend!
040
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers was shot down in a U2 spy plane on May Day (May 1st) 1960. He was captured, put on trial in the Soviet Union and sentenced to 10 years in prison. On Feb 10th 1962 he was exchanged for Rudolf Abel on the "Bridge of Spies" in Berlin. Here's some nice U2 artefacts: 1/2
171
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Some bookish and nerdy Australian Spy Museum Acquisition News. We've recently added some more Turing papers "Computability and Lambda Definability" in the Journal of Symbolic Logic - 1936, and "The Word Problem in Semi Groups with Cancellation" in Annals of Mathematics - 1950. more ... 1/3
191
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
Australian Spy Museum acquisition news! We've completed our NATO 1950's teleprinter cipher system. It includes the Hagelin T-55 cipher appliance that sits in between our T68D teleprinter and a comms circuit, providing a high security point to point link. In below comment, link to T68D demo video
181
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
“We need a society that once more values its dreamers and visionaries, those *** who uncomfortably go against the grain of what and who we are, exploring our nightmares *** so we might better know ourselves … Yep - 💯 this, might have been lifted from Aust Spy Museum’s mission statement website
this.xn--youve-1v3b
050
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
Something seasonal - for 30+ yrs NSA, then later the CIA, DIA and NRO have been putting out Christmas decorations. Here's some of NSA & CIA's greatest hits - including Enigma, U2 and portraits of Donovan, Dulles, Helms and Tenet. Thoughts are with all of you over the break, we'll see you in 2026.
082
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Australian Spy Museum Featured Artefacts this week are from WWII Europe - a mysterious allied cipher device and a clandestine radio First - a British B2 spy radio used in Occupied France by agents of the British SOE, American OSS and the French Resistance. Alongside it more B2 spares. 1/2 More ...
A set of items from World War 2 allied agent in France - a British made B2 spy radio in a suitcase, a box of radio spare parts, and a previously unknown manual "strip cipher" encryption device made of card.Closeup view of a British made B2 spy radio in a suitcase, the radio has a hammered metal paint finish, and there are pluggable radio crystals, headphones and a morse code key.A previously unseen British "strip cipher" device from World War Two that is made from card, along with its instruction sheet. The device features 11x sliding strips made out of card with alphabets arranged on them, the intructions advise how to run two sequential transpositions of letters to create an enciphered message.A closeup view of the manual strip cipher device - its backing board is about 40 centimetres wide and 25 centimetres tall, with 11x sliding strips that can be rearranged to create enciphered messages.
1102
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
Two weeks ago I shared a photo of our Enigma at The Beehive, the New Zealand parliament. Here it is at the Reichstag in Berlin.
Black and white photo of Enigma machine sitting on a granite plinth in front of the Reichstag in Berlin. It’s a cloudy day and a moody shot devoid of nearby people.
0101
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
At an Enigma demo a few months ago someone asked “How would a Chinese Enigma work?” I’d never seen an electromechanical Chinese machine (closest I could think of was Japanese Purple). Now this super interesting relic has been found in the US. Not cipher, But Look At It 😍 www.npr.org/2025/07/05/n...
npr.org
How this long-lost Chinese typewriter from the 1940s changed modern computing
The concepts in the MingKwai typewriter underlie how Chinese, Japanese and Korean are typed today. The typewriter, patented in 1946, was found last year in an upstate New York basement.
181
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
This week's Featured Artefact is an old-school tradecraft item - a Destruction Container concealed in a soap dish. Inside it is a 35mm film wrapped around a camera flash bulb - when the soap dish is opened the flash is triggered, destroying the light-sensitive film. 1/2
1234
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
Before the CIA there was the OSS or Office of Strategic Services a key player in allied irregular warfare. Formed in WWII the OSS combined the paramilitary sabotage functions of Britain's SOE with subversion and propaganda. It is to the latter function that these exquisitely rare items belong. 1/2
Uniform jacket of Major Robert Quinby of the WWII OSSUniform jacket of Walter Flynn of the WWII OSSWrist ID bracelets of Walter Flynn and Robert Quinn of the WWII Office of Strategic Services or OSS
120
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
Last day walkabout. Wellington has several really nice secondhand bookshops - a few gems at Pegasus. Get in quick to grab a 1948 First Ed of Norbert Weiner’s Cybernetics, a classic of computings early days. There’s also a beaut Codebreakers by David Kahn and a 2000 First of Colossus among others.
A 1948 first edition of Norbert Weiners Cybernetics - lovelyEarly imprint David Kahn’s Codebreakers in a price clipped but very nice dustjacket2000 First Edition of Colossus. Nice
090
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
At @kawaiicon.bsky.social today Jason Danner has captured a whole series with our intro by MetalStorm and our presso This is just such a great event in person but for non attendees the pics do provide some idea of the scale of AV, pyrotechnic sparkles etc Thanks Jason
041
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
11 o’clock on a Saturday in Wellington NZ - but are we out on the lash? No! We are scoring Teleprinters in Germany is what we’re doin’. Heading here soon - an c1951 Siemens 68D in military black - it has real “presence”, Here’s a tan one in action - that sound! youtu.be/yRAx-F6YXE8?...
youtu.be
Siemens T68D Test
YouTube video by Detlef Gerhardt
060
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Australian Spy Museum stopped by Pravda cafe Wellington NZ. How perfect a name, how could we not? If Vladimir was whispering sweet nothings to us today, it might just be via a Cold War numbers station appliance. Looking forward to meeting the NZ hacker community tomorrow at Kawaiicon 2025
0234
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Out and about in Wellington NZ
2259
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 01/11/2025
This story would make a great hacker con presentation There’s a terrible joke to be had about how it sucks that vacuum vendors do this, but nope im not doing it www.tomshardware.com/tech-industr...
tomshardware.com
Manufacturer issues remote kill command to disable smart vacuum after engineer blocks it from collecting data — user revives it with custom hardware and Python scripts to run offline
The smart vacuum cleaner was remotely bricked for not collecting data.
070
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 25/10/2025
The Lives of Others - Live 3-4yrs back I saw an ad in EU for an item "I don't know - it was my dad's - some kind of computer-briefcase thing". The photos showed it closed not opened (but I thought I could make out a Stasi battery box). So I took a bet and bought it with $$$ shipping cost. 1/3
150
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 25/10/2025
Australian Spy Museum (belated) Featured Artefact post New arrivals: - Four! very rare KGB cameras - souvenired by a photo tech at the "End of History" - Centre - late 80's Stasi HVA satellite receiver - Top - Batteries for our Krad concealment - Signed photo of Don Adams (86) with shoephone 1/2
1132
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
With Kawaiicon coming up it was time for our first cheesy laptop sticker - what better than a spooky Kiwi using an Enigma machine? One day I suppose I'll have a marketing person with a Branding Guide trying to save me from myself - but until then expect a few limited-edition dad jokes.
1141
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
Australian Spy Museum Featured Artefact - Stasi Donation 2 ! Released in 1988, the TSS-2 (for Terrestrische Sendestelle or terrestrial transmitter station) was the DDR's last secret agent comms system. Its similar in mission to the previously donated WSA-6 that dates from about the same time. 1/2
1112
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Last Call - Tomorrow evening at Western Sydney University we're discussing the evolution of spycraft from the Cold War into the digital age, with talks and a display of amazing spy tech from that journey. Limited places still available - register now www.eventbrite.com.au/e/the-evolut...
eventbrite.com.au
"The Evolution of Espionage - from the Cold War to the Dark Cloud"
From spies in the shadows to threats in the cloud — explore the past, present, and future of espionage.
150
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Australian Spy Museum Featured Artefact this week are beautiful vintage spy film posters - note the French "Espionne" for female spy. We're also looking at running an exhibit in Sydney where this art is displayed alongside vintage spy-tech. Stay tuned, and let us know if interested in sponsoring 😀
251
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
If you're in Western Sydney and protecting business or government data - then this event at WSU is for you. Speakers will discuss the modern threat landscape and its origins, with Australian Spy Museum displaying some cool vintage espionage gear. Tickets at: www.eventbrite.com.au/e/the-evolut...
072
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 13/09/2025
** Next Sat 20th - Enigma machines in Ashfield, Sydney ** We'll be demo'ing some Enigma machines, and speak on how codebreaking efforts led to the birth of computing. Tickets a bargain at only $10, with proceeds to our hosts the Computer Museum Society. www.eventbrite.com.au/e/eye-spy-se...
0102
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
Went to a good Spy writers panel chat at BAD - Sydney Crime Writers Festival. Left with 3x signed books (thanks gents) and an appreciation for their complementary backgrounds: - Liars Game - Jack Beaumont's third book - The Peak by former diplomat Sam Guthrie - The Turing Protocol by Nick Croydon
060
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
Australian Spy Museum Featured Artefact this week are some very nice CIA service awards from our collection. Below are the Silver (25-35 years service) and Gold (35+ years service) retirement medals along with the Distinguished Career Intelligence medal and the Intelligence medal of Merit. 1/2
161
Australian Spy Museum @aus-spymuseum.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
This is an important read
020