Past Exhibitions
Year Exhibition
1854-1855 Exhibition of New South Wales products (on display prior to their despatch to the Paris International Exhibition)
1879 Garden Palace Exhibition
1905 Sponges from a zoological and Commercial Point of View
1905 Bower-building Birds of Australia
1905 Nest Building Fishes
1905 Pearls and Pearl Shells
1905 Mosquitoes
1905 Meteorites
1906 Low Forms of Aquatic Life
1906 Birds of Paradise
1906 Oysters and Oyster Culture
1906 Gems and Precious Stones
1910 Extinct Animals
1921 Hawaiian Family Group
1922 Boatswain Bird Group, Lord Howe Island
1923 Coral Pool Group, Lord Howe Island
1923 Admiralty Islets Bird Group
1924 Grey-headed Fruit Bat
1924 Reconstruction of a Papuan House or Ravi
1926 Queensland Lungfish
1926 Ptarmigan
1926 Aboriginal Group
1927 Skulls and Skull Casts
1932 Bushland, Fishers and Fauna
1933 Bird of Paradise exhibition
1936 Limestone Caves
1937 Fluorescent Minerals
1937 Platypus Group
1937 Lyrebird Group
1940 Story of Man
1940 Life History of the Dragon-Fly and Ants' Guests
1941 Ant Lion and the Life History of the Caddis Fly
1941 Exhibition of Aboriginal Artefacts
1944 Life History of the Tapeworm
1945-1946 Relief Map of the Central Coast Region of NSW
1945-1946 Evolution of the Horse
1948 Fossil Reptilian Footprints
1950 Vickery Stamp Collection
1950 Evolution of Man
1951 Black Cockatoo Group
1953 Invertebrate Gallery
1953 Prawns and Prawning
1956 Corals of the South-west Pacific
1956 Age and Animals
1956 Bluebottle Group
1956 Mountain Parrot Group
1956 Crabs and their Relatives from Local Harbour Waters
1956 Relics from 'S.S. Dunbar'
1956 Eggs of the Ribbon-tailed Bird of Paradise - Cammerosaurus
1958 Evolution of Flight
1958 Aboriginal Relics
1958 Rare Pigeons
1958 Earthworms
1958 Introduction to Minerals
1960 Vertebrate Tree
1960 These are Invertebrates (Invertebrate Tree)
1960 Dangerous Marine Animals
1960 Charles Darwin
1960 Corroboree Frogs
1960 Classification of Fishes
1960 Neanderthal Man
1961 Whales and Whaling
1961 Vampire Bats
1962 Deepwater Volute Shells from Eastern Australia
1962 Mammal Maritime Exhibition
1963 Shells of the Open Sea
1963 Shells of the Sea Shore
1963 Shells of Coral Reefs
1964 Rocky Sea Shore
1964 Australian Stone Implements
1965 Conservation
1965 Canadian Wildlife
Opened 1966 Hall of Fossils
1966 Cook Relics
1967 Antarctic
Opened 1967 Antarctic, Pacific and New Guinea Gallery
Opened 1968 Melanesian Gallery
1968 Wildlife Photographs
1969 It all Began in Eden
1970 Cook, Banks and Australia
1970 Moon Rock
1971 Australian Bird Index - Parrot Photographs
1971 Recent Anthropological Acquisitions display
1971 NASA Moon Landing
1971 Antarctic Fish Fossils
1972 Pierre Bonnard paintings
1972 Melanesia
Opened 1973 Aboriginal Gallery
1973 Indonesia Today
Opened 1974 Marine Hall
Opened 1974 Hall of Life
1974 Cambodian Sculpture
1974 Contemporary Indonesian Wall Hangings
1974 Hall of Life Art Competition
1974 Art of Oceania
1975 A Peculiar Primate
1975 Banksian Folio
1975 Craft and Jade
Opened 1976 Mineral Gallery
Opened 1976 Arid Zone Gallery
1976 American Glass Sculpture
1976 A Better Way to Live
1976 Contemporary American Ceramics
1976 American Bicentennial Celebration
1976 South Seas
1976 Life in India and the Himalayas
1976 Sringar
1976 Halley's Comet display
1976 Conservation of Australian Fauna
1977 Arid Australia
1977 History of the Museum: 150th anniversary
1977 Sydney International Exhibition of Photography (S.I.E.P)
1977 Indian exhibition
1977-1978 Renewing the Dreaming
1978 Aboriginal Arts Course
1978 China exhibit
1978 Balinese Paintings
1978 Butterflies
1978 Bark Paintings
1978-1979 Oenpelli Bark Painting
Opened 1979 Marine Invertebrate Gallery
1979 Man and the Marine Environment
1979 Child in Aboriginal Society
1979 Message from the Mountain
1979 Fourth Part of the World
1979 Heathlands
1979 Venomous Australian Wildlife
1979 Treasures of the Museum
1979 Emblems of the State
1979 African Art
1979 Musical Instruments
1979-1980 Lion Rugs from Fars
1980 Fossils and Dinosaurs
1980 Awareness
1980 Man, a Peculiar Primate
1980 Tangata (Mankind)
Opened 1981 Invertebrates of the Sea
Opened 1981 Mammals in Australia
1981 Australian Fossil Flora
1981 Treasures of the Australian Museum
1981 Life in the Sea
Opened 1982 Birds in Australia
Opened 1982 Abelam: a people of Papua New Guinea
1982 Skeletons
1982 Aboriginal Australia
1982 Massim Tribal Art
1982 Warlpiri dancers from Yuendumu as part of Women and the Arts Festival
1982 Mineral Sales
Opened 1983 Skeleton Gallery
1983 Dinosaurs from China
1983 Exhibition for National Aborigines Week
1983 What on Earth
1983-1984 Baldwin Spencer Photographic exhibition
Opened 1984 Aboriginal Australia
1984 Rare and Curious
1984 Bushfires - In a Different Light
1984 Rare Stamps
1984-1985 Frank Hurley in Papua
Opened 1985 Insect Gallery
1985 Terrestrial Invertebrates
1985 Fossil Gallery
1985 Indonesia and the Pacific
1985 Galapagos, Born of the Sea
1985 Marine Worms
1985 Pressed on Paper
1985 Indonesian Regional Culture
1985 Robes of Power
1985 Sydney Urban Environment
1985 Renewable Energy
1985 Restricted Wildlife
1985 Aborigines in Sydney
Opened 1986 Planet of Minerals
1986 Spectacular Vernacular
1986 Cosmic Contact - Halley's Comet
1986 Year of Peace exhibition
1986 African Sanctus
1986 Insects
1986 Indonesian Regional Culture
1987 W.I.R.E.S Art Show 1987
1987 20th Century Dinosaurs
1987 Characters in a Crystal Landscape
1987 African and Aboriginal Art
1987 Discovery Room
Opened 1988 Tracks Through Time: the story of human evolution
Opened 1988 Rituals of the Human Life Cycle
1988 Dreamtime to Dust: Australia's fragile environment
1988 Pieces of Paradise: Pacific art through many eyes
1988 First Impressions: British impressions of Australia 1770-1840
1988 W.I.R.E.S Art Show
1988 Distance In Between
1989 Ancient Macedonia
1989 Taonga Maori: treasures of the New Zealand Maori people
1989-1990 What on Earth?
1990 Woven Image: contemporary Art from Arnhem Land
1990 Prohibited: the wildlife trade
1990 Dinosaurs Alive
1990 Opalised Fossil Pleiosaur
1990 Environment Expo '90
1990 Skeletons - Framework for Survival
1990 Monsters of the Deep
1990 Power of Love: six centuries of diamond betrothal rings
1990-1991 Discovery Space
1990-1991 Traditional Arts of the Sahara and Region
1990-1991 Maori Festival in Sydney
1991 William Liu - Pathfinder 1893-1983
1991 Some Memories for the Twentieth Century
1991 Story of Sydney
1991 Luk Luk Gen (Look Look Again!)
1991 W.I.R.E.S Art Show
1991-1992 Pol Art
1991-1992 Face to Face
1991-1992 Issues in Print - Aboriginal Posters
1991-1992 Greek Australians in Their Own Image
1991-1992 Raven's Survival: Eskimo spirit and subsistence in the far north
1991-1992 Now You See Them
1991-1992 Sydney's Kids
1991-1992 Street Science
1992 Living Mask
1992 Future of Australia's Dreaming
1992 Water Challenge
1992 W.I.R.E.S Art Show
1992 Boci-Boci Tarka
1992-1993 Mabo
1992-1993 Earthworm Environmental Awards
1992-1993 Gargantuans from the Garden
1992-1993 Our Place: Australian People, Australian Identity
1992-1993 Work - It - Out
1992-1993 Roots in Denmark
1992-1993 Ozone: the burning issue
1992-1993 Cat Attitude: the real issue with feral cats
1992-1993 Battered Fish: Australia's fisheries in crisis
1992-1993 Wasteland to Wetland: Homebush Bay
1992-1993 Oil Spills: the way clear
1993 Beyond the Java Sea
1993 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 1993
1993 W.I.R.E.S Art Show
1993 Black Art
1993-1994 Shark!
1993-1994 Mitey Science
1993-1994 Sciencescape
1993-1994 Malaysian Children's Art Exhibition (Malaysian Arts Festival)
1993-1994 Great Russian Dinosaurs
1993-1994 Between Two Worlds
1993-1994 Earthworm Environmental Awards
1993-1994 Lukluk bek Long Taim Bipo
1993-1994 Wetlands
1994 Discoveries
1994 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 1994
1994 Youth Identikit
1994 Art of the Himalayas
1994 Prejudice and Pride - Gay and Lesbian Communities
1994 Guadare, Ascoltare and Giocare
1994 Treasures of Africa
1994-1995 Search and Discover
1994-1995 Rediscovering Pompeii
1994-1995 Women's Views: art, science and the environment
1994-1995 Great Australian Treasure Hunt
1994-1995 Our Families
1994-1995 Rabaul
1994-1995 Drought
1994-1995 Pulp Friction
1994-1995 Promised Land
Opened 1995 More than Dinosaurs: evolution of life
1995 Environment
1995 Perspectives on Drought
1995 Croatian Australians, Australian Croatians
1995 Opal
1995 Why We had to Leave: stories from recently arrived refugees
1995 My Face My Place: private voices, public images
1995 Earthworms
1995 Images of Power: spiritual dimensions of Balinese life
1995 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 1995
1995 Samba de Samba
1995-1996 Bordered Lives
1995-1996 ICI Zoom-In
1995-1996 Australia Street Archive
Opened 1996 Albert Chapman Mineral Collection
1996 Far Fetched
1996 Rainbow, Sugarbag, Moon
1996 Photographs from Australia's Heritage Commission
1996 Rom - Its about Friendship
1996 My Tibet
1996 View from the Hill
1996 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 1996
1996-1997 Frogs
1996-1997 Awakenings: Australia-Pacific spirits
1996-1997 Drawn from the Heart
1996-1997 Sex, It's Only Natural
1996-1997 Images of Wisdom: through Australian-Palestinian eyes
1996-1997 Landscapes and Lives
1996-1997 Inside Out: process, progress, change
1996-1997 Face to Face (Indigenous Teenagers)
1996-1997 Gifts for a God (Captain Cook's Cloak)
1996-1997 Toekang Potret
1996-1997 Ogadot
1996-1997 Fascination Science
1996-1997 Earthworm Environmental Awards
1996-1997 Indigenous Australians: Australia's first people
1997 Gargantuans from the Garden - the Return
1997 The Long Paddock: Lives and Landscapes
1997 Night Skies: the art of deep space
1997 Kaleidoscope of Life
1997 Djalkiri Wangka
1997 Punkulture
1997 Carnivale
1997 Shadows in the Dust
1997 Painting the Land Story
1997 Olympic Arts Festival
1997 Festival of the Dreaming
1997 Bogcheh
1997 Retracing the Inbetween
1997-1998 Images of the Sea
1997-1998 Spiders!
1997-1998 Forbidden love, Bold Passions
Opened 1998 Biodiversity: life supporting life
1998 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 1997
1998 Thirst: reflections on water in Australia
1998 Barddi'wanga: from the string
1998 Eureka
1998 Stolen Lives: documenting Aboriginal separation and survival
1998 Life and Death Under the Pharaohs
1998 Argonauts: graceful sailors in boats of shell
1998 Images of Mambesak
1998 Twang: a fusion of sounds from around the world
1998 Peepshow Kinetica
1998-1999 Food for Thought
1998-1999 Terrorsaurus
1998-1999 Black Beauty
1998-1999 Savage Island Hiapo
1998-1999 Images from the Sea
1998-1999 Face to Face
Opened 1999 Kids' Island
1999 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 1998
1999 Eye to Eye: Observations by FE Williams, Anthropologist in Papua 1922-1943
1999 Topographies: landscapes of the imagination
1999 The Art of Eric Carle
1999 Tuba Rai Metin: firmly gripping the Earth
1999 Kitset Cultures
1999 Captive Lives: looking for Tambo and his companions
1999 Ancient Lives: Greeks, Romans and Etruscans
1999 Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)
1999 Picture Sydney: landmarks for a new generation
1999-2000 Mapping Our Countries
1999-2000 Menthen-Queue Here
1999-2000 Ngayulu-latju Palyantja
2000 Living Colour
2000 Body Art
2000 BHP Wildscience
2000 Sea of Hands
2000 Back to the Walls: tribal murals and aerosol walls from India and Australia
2000 Sospen Graun: Pottery from Papua New Guinea
2000 Power of Hair
2000 Bats
2000 Landmarks for the 21st Century
2000-2001 Transitions: indigenous Australian artwork
2000-2001 Sharing our Earth Tapestry
2001 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2000
2001 Australia's Lost Kingdoms
2001 Mystery of the Thylacine
2001 Sharing Our Earth Tapestry
2001 Super Croc.
2001 Catching... the Harbour
2001 Sisters of Charity 1838-2001
2001 Kids Earth Program - tapestry
2001-2002 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2001
2001-2002 New Traditions: contemporary art of Vanuatu
2001-2002 Mission Earthling
2002 A Worm's Eye View - the Wilbur Worm National Environmental Art Competition
2002 Body Art 2
2002 Images from Science
2002 Yumi Yet Bougainville: this is us
2002 Yilpinji: love, magic and ceremony
2002-2003 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2002
2002-2003 Levee Bank and Beyond
2002-2003 Beyond the Reef
2002-2003 Chinese Dinosaurs
2003 Two Emperors: China's ancient origins
2003 Yikwani: contemporary Tiwi ceramics
2003 Sense of Place
2003 Death: the last taboo
2003 Mukatinji Ngari
2003 Science in the City exposition
2003-2004 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2003
2003-2004 Up Close and Spineless
2003-2004 Gold and Sacrifice: treasures of ancient Peru
2003-2004 Chicka Dixon: the struggle in black and white
2004 Uncovered: treasures of the Australian Museum
2004 John Gould - 200 Years of Achievement
2004 Waterhole
2004 Gordon Syrons: private clubs and politics
2004 Michael Riley: a series of photographs
2004 Belonging
2004 Vestirse como Dioses - Dressed Like Gods
2004 Snapshots through Deep Time
2004-2005 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2004
2004-2005 Life Beyond the Tomb
2004-2005 Scientific Illustrations
2004-2005 Butterfly Effect
2005 It's a Dog's Life: animals in the public service
2005 Science in the City exposition
2005 Whodunit? Mystery at Menagerie Park
2005 Trail of the Mummy
2005 Mysterious Bog People
2005 Supercroc
2005-2006 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2005
2005-2006 TORTURE: inquisition, capital punishment
2005-2006 How to Make a Monster: The Art of Animatronics
2006 Pearls: opulence and obsession
2006 Science in the City
2006 Dinosaur Unearthed
2006 Pacific Patterns
2006 Ko Tawa
2006 Six Strands: woven vessels from the collection
2006-2007 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2006
2006-2007 Eaten Alive
2007 Colliding Worlds: first contact in the western desert, 1930-1984
2007 Australia Through the National Geographic Lens
2007 African Impressions
2007 On Track: contemporary Aboriginal art from Western Australia
2007 Science in the Bush
2007-2008 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2007
2007-2008 Face to Face
Opened 2008 Surviving Australia
Opened 2008 Dinosaurs
2008 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2008
2008-2009 Frank Hurley: journeys into Papua
2008-2009 Papunya Painting: out of the desert
2009 When Mammoths Roamed
2009 Climate Change: our future, our choice
2009 Menagerie: contemporary indigenous sculpture
2009 Egyptian Treasures: art of the pharaohs
2009-2010 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009
2009-2010 Amazing Backyard Adventures
2010 Yiloga! Tiwi Footy
2010 Alive!
2010 Banana Kids
2010-2011 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2010
2011 50 Years of Gold
2011 Fashion Less Waste
2011 Rituals of Seduction: birds of paradise
2011 Beauty from Nature: art of the Scott sisters
2011-2012 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2011
2011-2012 Yiwarra Kuju: The Canning Stock Route
2012 Deep Oceans
2012-2013 Alexander the Great
2013 Charles Addams: American Gothic
2013 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2012
2013 Polychaetes Photographic Display
2013-2014 Aztecs
2013-2014 Menagerie exhibition
Opened 2014 Garrigarrang: Sea Country
2014 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013
2014 Curious Treasures - The Long Gallery
2014 Tyrannosaurs - meet the family
2014 Armour
2014-2015 Same Jukurrpa: Same Country
Opened 2015 Pacific Spirit Gallery
Opened 2015 Bayala Nura: Yarning Country
Opened 2015 Wild Planet
2015 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2014
2015 Organic Landscapes, Karen Burgess Photographs
2015 Trailblazers: Australia's 50 greatest explorers
2016 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year 2016
2016 Janet Laurence: Deep Breathing (Resuscitation for the Reef)
2016 Spiders - Alive & Deadly
2017 Transformations: Art of the Scott Sisters
2017 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year 2017
Opened 2017 Westpac Long Gallery - 200 Treasures of the Australian Museum.
2017 Mammoths - Giants of the Ice Age
2018 GADI - Gadi country and gadigal culture.
2018 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year 2018
2018 Whales | Tohora - Giants of the ocean.
2020 Tyrannosaurs - Meet the family
2020 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year 2020
2021 Spark - Australian innovations tackling climate change
2021 Unsettled
2021 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year 2021
2022 Jurassic World by Brickman
2022 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year 2022
2022 Sharks
2022 Burra
2023 Bilas: Body Adornment from Papua New Guinea
2023 Barka: The Forgotten River
2023 Wansolmoana
2023 Ramses & the Gold of the Pharaohs
2024 Thin Ice VR
2024 Fantastical Sharks & Rays