A new exhibit, Chains of Empire, opened at the Australian National Maritime Museum this month, exploring Australia's history with the Atlantic Ocean slave trade and the effects of Britain abolishing slavery across its empire in 1833.

Developed in collaboration with a team of Australia's leading historians from University of Western Australia, Edith Cowan University and the University of Melbourne, with First Nations guidance, the exhibit reveals the legacies of British slavery across Australia and highlights the real stories of the trials and suffering of indentured workers.

Chains of Empire opened August 23 to coincide with the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition.

Historian Dr Peter Hobbins, the museum's Head of Knowledge, noted that convicts were only one group to endure forced labour in Australia.

"Many Australians are familiar with our convict past, but transporting convicted prisoners to the Australian colonies was only one form of securing unfree labour", he said.

"Colonial shipping brought many people to this country who had benefited from slavery, and some of them continued to unjustly exploit the work of First Nations peoples around our continent."

The exhibit specifically explores what happened when Britain abolished slavery across its empire in 1833. Former slave owners were paid compensation to give up their human "property". Many came to the Australian colonies with these ill-gotten gains, with enduring consequences for First Nations people.

Chains of Empire looks at the lives of Aboriginal people forced to dive for pearl shell and work for bare subsistence rations in other sectors, and the experiences of indentured workers shipped from the Pacific Islands to Australia and subjected to appalling conditions

The exhibit may be distressing for some visitors. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that the exhibit includes references to, and images of, ancestors who are deceased.

The exhibit is supported by Australian Research Council Discovery Project DP200100094, 'Western Australian Legacies of British Slavery' and the Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities Project LE230100079 'Time Layered Cultural Map of Australia: Advanced Techniques and Big Data'. It is free to enter.