Overview
Our long history in short.
Our Collections
The history of our collections and departments.
- A Brief History of the Collections
- History of the Library
- History of the Palaeontology Department
- History of the Mammal Department
- History of the Exhibition and Preparation Department
- History of the Education Department
- History of the Minerals Department
- History of the Anthropology Department
- History of Ichthyology
- History of the Australian Museum Society (TAMS)
Celebrating Our 190th
Stories celebrating 19 decades of Museum memories and milestones.
- 1820s: Celebrating 190 years
- 1830s: The Rascally Bird Stuffer
- 1840s: Up Against It - William Sheridan Wall
- 1850s: The Australian Museum opens its doors on William Street
- 1860s: A Naturalist's Legacy
- 1870s: Australian born and bred
- 1880s: Where it all began - AM's long history with Lord Howe Island
- 1890s: Charles Hedley - upstart colonial?
- 1900s: King of the Beasts – Sculpture Taxidermy at the Australian Museum
- 1910s: Allan McCulloch - A New Breed of Scientist for the 20th Century
- 1920s: Be Careful What You Wish For – Charles Anderson Director
- 1930s: The One That Got Away
- 1940s: The Australian Museum - Breaking Out
- 1950s: ….colour, good design and simplicity
- 1960s: The Times They Are A Changing
- 1970s: Reaching Out
- 1980s: Repatriation - a significant step towards the future
- 1990s: Museum scientists are always on the lookout for interesting new discoveries
- The 2000s - Mr Blobby and the Information Superhighway
Archives & Library
The institutional memory and fantastic book and journal collections of a unique organisation.
Stories about the Museum's beginnings
Short stories about our early days.
Stories about specimens & collections
The Museum's incredible collections are rich in history.
- Specimens lost to the Australian Museum
- Ethel King's Snake Watercolours
- Garden Palace Survivors
- A Garden Palace Survivor: Our first Ethnology Catalogue
- Aboriginal voices from the 1980s
- Blaschka glass sea anemones
- Researching the Blaschka glass models
- Beauty from Nature: art of the Scott sisters
- Scott Sisters collection and science data
Stories about our galleries & displays
The Museum's public galleries and displays have undergone decades of change.
Stories about collecting trips and expeditions
Since the 1830s the Museum has been building its collections.
Timelines
Highlights and milestones since we were established in 1827.
Museum People
Stories about the amazing people who've worked here.
- Anthony Musgrave (1895-1959)
- Winifred West
- Our First Volunteer - Hereward Kesteven
- Elsie Bramell
- Nursemaid to the Fishes - Gilbert Percy Whitley
- Gilbert Percy Whitley
- Fred McCarthy
- Isobel Bennett
- Howard Hughes
- Films For Mr Everyman
- Lilian Medland
- John Disney 'What's Hit is History - What's Missed is Mystery'
- Rex Bretnall
- Frank McNeill
- Harold Fletcher
- Charles Hedley, Conchologist
- Joyce Allan, Conchologist
- Oliver Chalmers – Curator of Minerals
- Ellis Le Geyt Troughton
- Taxidermist Extraordinaire - Jane Tost - Our First Female Employee
- Johann (Gerard) Krefft
- All credit to Krefft: Gerard Krefft’s invisible new species of dunnart
Other People of Interest
Stories about people who've helped shape the Museum story.
