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  • In this section, find out everything you need to know about visiting the Australian Museum, how to get here and the extraordinary exhibitions on display. Check out the What's On calendar of events, workshops and school holiday programs.

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  1. Homepage
  2. About the Museum
  3. Our history
  4. Stories

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.

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Australian Museum Archival images 200 Treasures

Bathurst's Letter

Foundation document for the establishment of the Australian Museum.

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Collectors Certificate 1868

A Favourite - George Masters Collection Certificate

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

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Sperm Whale Skeleton

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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Carved arrows

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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Garden Palace 1882 - J. C. Hoyte

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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Sunfish - Mola alexandrini

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
Learn more

Chusan Ball

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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Australian Museum Archival images 200 Treasures

History

Find out about the history of the Museum’s zoological and anthropological collections, its historic and contemporary buildings and the people who have worked here over nearly two centuries.

Museum by the decade
Past exhibitions
Museum people
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an_90_13_065

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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Marine invertebrate glass model

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 worked at the Australian Museum from 1827 until present day.

Curators timeline
Museum Directors
Staff stories
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Windurndale Dam wall

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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Discover our collections

Capturing Nature book

Museum Archives and Research Library

The Museum Archives and Research Library cares for the Museum’s institutional memory and its historic natural history book and journal collections dating from 1836.

History of the Museum
Archives
Rare books
Photography
Explore our history

People in traditional dress

Cultural Collections

Learn about First Nations cultural material in our collections and our engagement with communities to activate stories of living culture.

First Nations
Pacific
World Cultures
Find out more

Entomology Collection Area

Natural Sciences

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

Why we collect
Research areas
Find out more


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Climate Strike 20 September 2019

Collective action

Find out how we can work together for a better future. From speaking up and staying informed to supporting a climate action organisation, there are many ways we can create positive change.

Learn more

2021 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes Award Ceremony

2021 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes Award Ceremony

The 2021 Eureka Prize winners were announced during a live, broadcast event on Thursday 7 October.

Watch the Award Ceremony

Simpson Desert Expedition 2015

Museum news

Hear behind-the-scenes stories and read about our latest discoveries, research expeditions and collection objects on display.

Latest news articles
Podcast series
Find out more

LAVO hydrogen battery

Hydrogen power

The world is starting to embrace hydrogen as an incredible energy source. By separating hydrogen from water, it can be safely collected, stored and transported as clean energy for use in homes and industry, trucks, planes and space rockets. Discover the amazing potential of this clean energy.

Learn more

Sharks exhibition hero thumbnail, 2022

Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic Sharks competition

Answer this question to enter the draw to win a $30,000 holiday for two to the Kimberley.

Enter now
Read more

Sheldon with Eric Pliosaur

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
Find out more

Dr Dana M. Bergstrom, Australian Antarctic Division and University of Wollongong

Eureka Stories

From guiding philosophies to breakthrough moments and ambitions for the future, the Eureka Prizes community shares their stories.

Read more

Australian Museum Archival images 200 Treasures

Australian Museum timelines

Discover main events over time at the Australian Museum.

Historical events
Exhibitions
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2022 Eureka Prizes Award Ceremony title treatment

2022 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes Award Ceremony

The 2022 Eureka Prize winners were announced during a live, broadcast event on Wednesday 31 August.

Watch the Award Ceremony

Rebecca Johnson and Koala at Featherdale Wildlife Park

The Koala Genome

The koala – a treasured and quintessentially Australian species – is under threat from habitat loss, predator attack and disease, and there are concerns that its genetic diversity is decreasing and its population health is, as a result, in danger.

Australian Museum research project
Koala Genome Consortium
Find out more

Eureka Prizes 2019 Finalists

Preparing your Eureka Prizes submission: information for entrants

This on-demand information session will help demystify the submission process and set you on the right path when it comes to preparing your entry.

Register now

Australian Museum Eureka Prizes trophy

2020 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes Award Ceremony

For the first time in the program’s 30-year history, Eureka Prize winners were announced during a live, digital event.

2020 Eureka Prizes
Watch the full Award Ceremony

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The Australian Museum respects and acknowledges the Gadigal people as the First Peoples and Traditional Custodians of the land and waterways on which the Museum stands.
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We pay our respect to Aboriginal Elders and recognise their continuous connection to Country.
This website may contain names, images and voices of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

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Photo of two painted shields

The Australian Museum respects and acknowledges the Gadigal people as the First Peoples and Traditional Custodians of the land and waterways on which the Museum stands.

Image credit: gadigal yilimung (shield) made by Uncle Charles Chicka Madden