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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
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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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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
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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.

Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander
Pacific & International
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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
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2018 AMRI Lifetime Achievement Award

Our Partners

Businesses that sponsor the Australian Museum engage their staff, clients and other stakeholders with a host of unique and unforgettable museum experiences!

Major partners
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People in traditional dress

Cultural connections

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

Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander
Pacific & International
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Video Conference

Video conferencing

Video Conferencing provides a fantastic opportunity to have your schools link-up with our vast collection, educators and experts—offering interactive learning anywhere and everywhere.

Museum educators & experts
Interactive learning
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Ornithology Collection Area 2018

Collection donations

Donating objects, cultural material and other ways to supporting the Australian Museum collections.

Natural Science strategy
Cultural donations
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Cobargo

Australian Museum statement on 2019/2020 bushfires

The Australian Museum team is devastated by the impact of the fires ravaging our communities and our wildlife.

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Museum in a Box

Museum in a Box

Learn more about over 30 different Museum Boxes available to educational institutions across Australia.

Real specimens
Learning resources
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Ichtyologie, ou, Histoire naturelle, gnrale et particulire de

Research Library

Discover our historic natural history book and journal collections.

Rare books
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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
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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.

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Royal Botanic Garden Sydney CBD Biological Diversity

Biological Diversity Study Days

Full-day programs are run by educators from the Australian Museum, the Royal Botanic Garden & Domain Trust, Taronga Zoo and the North Coast Regional Botanic Garden.

Educator-led program
Video conferences
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Stockland Sharks competition

Stockland Sharks competition

Answer this question to be in with a chance to win a $10,000 holiday to swim with Whale Sharks at Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia!

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Tyrannosaurs

Venues and touring exhibitions

Discover the Museum's range of touring exhibitions for national and international bookings, and our onsite venues to hire for your next function.

Touring exhibitions
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The Australian Museum respects and acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation 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 of the Eora Nation 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