Australian Museum

Opens Saturday 2 July
Permanent education space

Burra

Be transported on an immersive journey through the eyes of burra (eel) in the Australian Museum’s new learning and play space.

School Holidays July 2022 (Winter) hero image of cockatoo

Winter school holidays

Discover science and culture through a diverse program of interactive workshops for kids aged 5 to 13 years.

Programs and events

Wednesdays, Saturdays & Sundays from 28 May
11.30am, 1pm

Waranara tour guide in the Garrigarrang Gallery

Waranara Tours

Expand your understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures on this unique tour of objects from the Australian Museum's exhibitions, led by a First Nations guide.

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 21 February

Museum Minis

Kids can discover even more at the Museum through these free interactive playgroups for 3-5-year-olds. Get up close to objects and specimens and share stories and songs with Museum educators.

Permanent exhibition
Open daily
10am-5pm

Dinosaurs

How well do you know your dinosaurs? Discover the amazing creatures that ruled the world until 65 million years ago in this exhibition that brings the Mesozoic era to life.

Burleigh Heads, QLD
Green Hills, NSW
Shellharbour, NSW

Future Now

A pop-up exhibition created by the Australian Museum, touring Stockland Retail Town Centres in 2022.

Permanent exhibition
Open daily
10am - 5pm

Sydney Science Trail

The Sydney Science Trail returns this National Science Week with a jam-packed program for schools, community Saturdays and an online trail!

13 – 21 August 2022

200 Treasures of the Australian Museum

The Westpac Long Gallery showcases 100 treasures from our collections alongside the stories of the 100 people who’ve helped shape Australia.

Virtual excursions
Educator-led tours

School programs and excursions

Book school excursions at the Australian Museum, Sydney, that inspire and engage students of all ages.

Book now

Bayala Nura: Yarning Country

Explore and celebrate Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures through a rich diversity of objects and stories of living culture. See more than 250 fascinating objects from Indigenous communities around Australia.

Permanent exhibition
Open daily
10am-5pm

Located at the entrance to the Australian Museum

Museum Shop

Come and explore our exciting range of products inspired by the Museum's collections. All proceeds help fund our science, education and exhibitions programs.

Shop for beautiful objects

Wild Planet

Welcome to life on Earth. Every one of Earth’s millions of species is unique, but they are all connected through evolution. Come and see life in all its glorious diversity – over 400 animals under one roof!

Permanent exhibition
Open daily
10am-5pm

Highlights of exhibits
Accessible audio description

Audio guides of exhibitions

Delve into the Australian Museum exhibitions and enrich your understanding of our collection on display through our self-guided audio guides.

Listen now

Australian Museum news

Discover our research behind the scenes, read stories from our collections and learn about the latest fieldwork findings in our blog.

Read our Blog Explore Podcast Visit the Media Centre

Australian Museum opens Burra: a ground-breaking, interactive learning and play space

Burra brings together First Nations knowledge systems and Western science through fun play spaces that show the importance of caring for Country - opens FREE to the public Saturday 2 July.

1 July 2022

The Crucifix Frog (Notaden bennettii), one of 248 frog species whose distribution maps have been updated for the Australian Frog Atlas. The new map for this species incorporates two large extensions of its previously known range

Australian Frog Atlas: Revealing the true distributions of Australia’s frogs with the help of citizen scientists

The most detailed maps of Australia’s frogs have now been produced and are open access for frog research and conservation.

29 June 2022

Gondwanan Temperate Rainforest is wet, cool, and lush green.

Unravelling the frog diversity of Gondwanan rainforests

Continuing research in rainforests of northern New South Wales and southern Queensland has recently resulted in the scientific description of two unique frog species.

24 June 2022

A green tree frog (Litoria caerulea) being attacked by mosquitos.

It’s CSI – frogs edition and we need you!

Check your frog photos for frog-biting flies and submit them to our study to help us develop a new, DNA based frog detection method.

21 June 2022

Australian Museum Team - National Winner 2022 Museums and Galleries National Awards (MAGNAs)

Australian Museum’s Unsettled exhibition wins prestigious national awards

The Australian Museum (AM) was today announced as the overall National Winner of the 2022 Museums and Galleries National Awards (MAGNAs) for its ground-breaking Unsettled exhibition.

17 June 2022

A juvenile bluestreak wrasse attending to a fearsome predator – a giant moray eel Gymnothorax javanicus

News from LIRS: Learning from the cleaners and their clients

Each month, a selected blog from Lizard Island Reef Research Foundation (LIRRF) is featured at the AM. LIRRF supports scientific research & education at the AM’s Lizard Island Research Station on the Great Barrier Reef. This month, we feature: Learning from the cleaners and their clients.

20 June 2022

A Giant Australian cuttlefish, Sepia apama.

Bones of contention

In a fierce rivalry surpassed only by rugby players, Australian waters are home to creatures that are not seen in Aotearoa New Zealand. Or . . . are they? Cephalopod expert, Dr Mandy Reid at the Australian Museum, explores further.

17 June 2022

Matavai Pacific Cultural Arts group adorned in fresh leaves pictured with Samoan NRL Penrith Panthers rugby players before their performance

Samoa Day in Sydney 2022

Earlier this week, thousands of Sāmoan and Pacific Islander diaspora gather at Liverpool’s Whitlam Centre to celebrate 60 Years of Sāmoan Independence.

16 June 2022

The Talbot Oration: Inspiring Visions for a Climate Solution

Author and social researcher Rebecca Huntley explores how images can hold the solution to a better climate future in the Australian Museum’s Talbot Oration.

Live at the AM
2 June 2022

Identify an animal
Cultural objects
Fossils and minerals

Land snails living under a dead log in the Gondwanan Rainforests of NSW.

Looking beyond the headlines: How did snails fare in the 2019-2020 bushfires?

A new study by Australian Museum researchers sheds light on the impacts of the 2019-2020 wildfires on land snails in north-eastern NSW.

15 June 2022

Early humans across southern Africa made a particular type of stone tool - the backed artefact- in the same shape, showing that the populations must have been in contact with each other.

Socialising to survive

Earlier exits of H. sapiens from Africa were overprinted by the big exit around 60-70,000 years ago. Why was this exodus so successful when the earlier excursions were not? A new study by an international team of scientists confirm that social networking was key to this success.

10 June 2022

Fa'agalu leading Sāmoan group at the Motu of Western Sydney Production

A Tribute to Sāmoan men and women of the Mau

In this tribute to Sāmoan men and women of the Mau, renowned Sāmoan ambassador Fa’agalu Dominic Taeoalii Fonoti shares highlights of his career.

9 June 2022

Where nature, science and culture intersect

We are Australia’s first museum, and have over 21 million scientific specimens and cultural objects in our collections. Learn more from First Nations people, discover thousands of animal factsheets and explore our online education resources.

Discover & Learn Animal Factsheets Journals & Publications

Object and species identification

Use our enquiry form for help with Australian animal identification, natural history and cultural object enquiries.

Ask an expert

First Nations

Learn more about this land’s First Nations peoples and cultures.

Collections
Knowledge
Exhibitions

Virtual excursions
Educator-led tours
Learning journeys

For teachers and students

Our education programs and resources spark curiosity, develop scientific understanding and enhance cultural awareness in students of all ages.

Invertebrates
Vertebrates
Extinct animals

Animal factsheets

Discover the astonishing variety of mammals, birds, reptiles, marine life and more in the Australian Museum collections.

Why we collect
Research areas

Natural Sciences

Discover the AM's extensive collections and research areas, including the name-bearing type specimens held at the Museum.

What are we doing?
What is climate change?

Climate change

The Australian Museum has been involved in raising awareness and researching impacts of climate change for over a decade.

Megafauna
Fossil sites in Australia
Geological time scale

School girl looking at megafauna display

Australia over time

Learn about our evolving landscape, Australian megafauna and other extinct animals and how we use fossils to relate the animals of the past with those of today.

The Mesozoic era
Dinosaur factsheets
Australian dinosaurs

Dinosaurs and their relatives

Discover the Mesozoic era of the dinosaurs! Dinosaurs are classified as a group of reptiles, although some of their features are found in mammals and birds living today.

Stages of Decomposition
The Human story
Virtual Autopsy

Science of life

Learn about biodiversity, the scientific study of life and organisms, and the story of human evolution.

Shaping the Earth
Minerals
Fossils

Earth science

The Mineralogy and Palaeontology collections include rocks, minerals, gemstones and fossils, and reveal how the earth was formed.

Museum news
Education programs
Collection information

Westpac Long Gallery Level 1 Collection Cases

Discover & Learn

We are Australia’s first museum, and have over 21.9 million scientific specimens and cultural objects in our collections. Learn more about our latest discoveries, animal factsheets and education programs.

Ways to join the Foundation
Our supporters

Get involved

Make a donation. Become a member or volunteer. Or put your passion into practice on a citizen science project. Find out how you can get involved with the Australian Museum.

Become a Member Make a Donation Contact Us

Donate to the Australian Museum Foundation

The Australian Museum Foundation relies on your donation to help invest in the future of Australian Museum research, education and programs.

Donate now

Australian Museum Eureka Prizes

Rewarding excellence in Australian research & innovation, leadership, science engagement, and school science

Key 2022 Dates
School Science
Frequently Asked Questions

Membership packages
Museum discounts

Become a Member

With unique benefits, special events and exclusive access, an Australian Museum Membership unlocks even more wonder.

Join and save today

FrogID

FrogID is a national citizen science project that is helping us learn more about what is happening to Australia’s frogs.

Free mobile app
Record frog calls

DigiVol
FrogID mobile app
Australasian Fishes

Andrew Trevor-Jones, citizen scientist for Australasian Fishes

Citizen science

See our citizen science projects and discover how you can get involved and contribute!

Get involved

Work at the Museum

Discover the exciting roles in research, exhibitions, education and communicating the relationship between people, culture and the natural environment.

Research
Exhibitions
Communication
Scholarships

Postgraduate Awards
Research
Fellowship

Awards & Fellowships

The Australian Museum Foundation & Australian Museum Research Institute (AMRI) offers several different fellowships to visiting researchers.

Support our research
Help save the reef

Life at Lizard: Waging war on the Crown-of-Thorns starfish

Lizard Island Reef Research Foundation

Proudly supporting science at the Australian Museum's Lizard Island Research Station and elsewhere on the Great Barrier Reef.

Get involved

Media Centre

Discover the latest news about the Australian Museum and Australian Museum Research Institute. The Media Centre also provides information, images and expert comment on scientific and cultural research, exhibitions and wider Museum activities.

Media releases
Photography & filming
Media contact

Organisation
Governance
Our history
Future plans

About the Museum

The Australian Museum has been inspiring exploration of nature and culture for more than 190 years. Learn more about what we do, our extraordinary collections or our fascinating history.

Our Organisation Our History Museum Collections

About the Museum

Learn more about our organisational structure, what we do, the passionate people who work at the Australian Museum and our fascinating history.

Biodiversity & geodiversity
Collections-based research

Australian Museum Research Institute (AMRI)

AMRI brings together scientific expertise and world-class research infrastructure to increase our knowledge of the world around us and inform environmental decision-making for a better future.

Reef research
Planning a trip
Fellowships and grants

Australian Museum Lizard Island Research Station

The Lizard Island Research Station is a world-leading supplier of on-reef facilities for coral reef research and education. Located on the northern Great Barrier Reef, 270 km north of Cairns in Queensland, Australia.

Aviation wildlife strike
Conservation genomic projects

Australian Centre for Wildlife Genomics

Our primary focus is on ecological applications such as species identification, individualisation, conservation and small population management.

Lord Howe Island
Solomon Islands
Historic expeditions

Research and expeditions

Learn about past Australian Museum expeditions and field work from around the globe that have contributed to our collections and research.

What are we doing?
Achieving climate neutral

Sustainability

As a leading natural history and cultural institution, the Australian Museum (AM) has a responsibility to educate, inspire and act on environmental sustainability.

Strategic plans
Annual reports
Protected loans

Policies and Reports

Review the Australian Museum's policies, plans and publications.

Future plans

As part of a $40M Blockbuster Funding agreement created by the NSW Government, the Australian Museum will be able to host and tour major exhibitions over the next four years including: Ramses The Great and the Gold of the Pharaohs and SHARKS.

Visit the Australian Museum in Sydney

Visit Australia’s first museum in the heart of Sydney to discover Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, our collection of Australian dinosaurs, and the deadliest of down under animals. See you at the Australian Museum.

General enquiries: +61 2 9320 6000
Media: +61 2 9320 6181

Contact us

Contact information for customer feedback, members team, school and group visits, website feedback, booking venues and functions, touring exhibitions and media contacts.

More information

Australian Museum collections

The Australian Museum has spent more than 190 years building a vast collection of over 21.9 million objects and specimens alongside an enviable reputation for world-leading science.

Natural Sciences
Cultural collections
Museum Archives