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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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  • In this section, there's a wealth of information about our collections of scientific specimens and cultural objects. Come and explore what our researchers, curators and education programs have to offer.

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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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Fotoware Image

Museum people

Stories about the amazing people who’ve worked at the Australian Museum from 1827.

Curators
Directors
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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


You may also be interested in...

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Researcher in Lizard Island Research Station

EdTech challenge: environmental sustainability

IBM EdTech Youth Challenge projects that help humanity be more environmentally conscious and help reduce consumption and degradation of natural resources, and the effects climate change is having on our world and lives.

Learn more

Climate change interactive

Learning resources

Discover our online learning resources by topics including First Nations culture, natural history, earth and life sciences.

Virtual autopsy
Sustainability at home
Australia over time
Explore the topics

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

Explorer Backpacks 2021

Ignite curiosity today

Your gift today is igniting a passion for curiosity in the next generation.

Australian Museum Foundation
Donate now

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

Video Conference

Virtual excursions

Virtual excursions provide a fantastic opportunity to have your schools link-up with our vast collections and Museum educators, offering interactive learning anywhere and everywhere.

Museum educators & experts
Interactive learning
Read more

WLG Entanglement shots for Mobile App

Donate to the Museum

Help finance the exceptional work of our inspiring scientists, explorers and educators as they help to protect Australia’s and the Pacific’s vital natural and cultural heritage for generations to come.

Giving programs
Major donations
Bequests
Find out more

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

Mt Resilience

Learn about climate change with Mt Resilience

Mt Resilience is an interactive webAR experience that reveals a detailed 3D model of a town designed to visualise climate and disaster preparedness.

Climate and disaster preparedness concepts
Find out more

Students from Greenpoint Christian School participate in an Educator led session on Climate Change and Biodiversity.

IBM EdTech Youth Challenge

Entries to the Challenge are now closed. The winning teams will be announced on Friday 12 November 2021.

Competition dates
Judging criteria
Themes and resources
Find out more

Sydney Science Trail link tile

Sydney Science Trail

Sydney Science Trail offers a jam-packed program of excursions for primary and secondary students.

13 – 21 August 2022
Stages 2– 6
Register now

Royal Botanic Garden Sydney CBD Biological Diversity

Biological Diversity Study Days

Full-day programs are run by educators from the Australian Museum, the Botanic Gardens Greater Sydney, Taronga Zoo and the North Coast Regional Botanic Garden.

Educator-led program
Virtual excursions
Book now

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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 acknowledge Elders past, present and emerging.
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