Stories

In 1827, Governor Darling allocated £200 to the establishment and running of a museum, the Colonial Museum, which was subsequently renamed the Australian Museum. Discover some of the stories.

Australian Museum Archival images 200 Treasures

Bathurst's Letter

Foundation document for the establishment of the Australian Museum.

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A Favourite - George Masters Collection Certificate

George Masters Collection Certificate - one piece of paper that evokes a lot of history.

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A Whale of a Story

Suspended above the College Street entrance for 100 years, the Museum's largest specimen is hard to miss.

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Garden Palace Survivors

In 1879 the Australian Museum exhibited its Anthropology collections in a Sydney International Exhibition building called the Garden Palace.

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A Garden Palace Survivor: Our first Ethnology Catalogue

Our first Ethnology listing is a rare surviving witness to the Garden Palace Ethnology Court.

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Past exhibitions

The Australian Museum has long been known for its diverse and fascinating exhibitions. Discover our past exhibition resources online.

Indigenous Australians
Death: the last taboo
Trailblazers

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The Chusan Ball

In a time before the Internet and text messages, the arrival of the first British mail steam ship was cause for celebration in the colony.

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History of the Australian Museum

For two centuries, the Australian Museum has been the leading voice for the richness of life, the Earth, and culture in Australia and the Pacific — through world-leading scientific research, education, and First Nations engagement.

Timelines
Past exhibitions
Museum people

Ethel King's Snake Watercolours

A collection of watercolours by Ethel King for the 'Snakes of Australia' book by J.R. Kinghorn.

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Identifying the Museum’s Blaschka glass models

In 2009 archivist Patricia Egan demonstrated that the fragile glass models in the Museum's Archives were made by famous 19th-century German glass makers Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka.

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Charles Anderson at the Australian Museum

Museum people

Discover stories from and about the amazing people who’ve shaped the Australian Museum.

Historical staff
List of Directors
Staff stories

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A Tale of Climbing Galaxias

Over a three-day period in late January 1993, Ranger Ian McArtney observed thousands of Galaxias (probably Mountain Galaxias) climbing the wall of Winburndale Dam, near Bathurst, New South Wales.

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