Australian Museum

About

The Australian Museum, originally known as the Colonial Museum and Sydney Museum, is a state public museum in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is operated and funded as a cultural institution by the state government of New South Wales. With its predecessor originated in 1827, the museum is the oldest natural history museum in Australia and the fifth oldest natural history museum in the world. It was first conceived and developed along the contemporary European model of an encyclopedic warehouse of cultural and natural history, and features collections of vertebrate and invertebrate zoology, as well as mineralogy, palaeontology and anthropology. The scientific stature of the museum was established under the curatorship of scientist Gerard Krefft in the 1860s. Apart from permanent displays in its galleries, permanent and temporary exhibitions, the museum also undertakes research and is involved in community programs. Since 1973 it has operated the Lizard Island Research Station on the Great Barrier Reef, studying the ecology of coral reefs and the effects of climate change. The Australian Museum Research Institute (AMRI), established in 2013, is the central hub for its researchers...

The establishment of a museum had first been planned in 1821 by the Philosophical Society of Australasia, and although specimens were collected, the Society folded in 1822. An entomologist and fellow of the Linnean Society of London, Alexander Macleay, arrived in 1826. After being appointed New South Wales Colonial Secretary, he began lobbying for a museum.

The museum was founded in 1827 by Earl Bathurst, then the Secretary of State for the Colonies, who wrote to the governor of New South Wales of his intention to found a public museum and who provided £ 200 yearly towards its upkeep. Its foundation in 1827 makes the museum the oldest natural history museum in the country, the fifth oldest in the world.

It was first conceived and developed along the contemporary European model of an encyclopedic warehouse of cultural and natural history, and features collections of vertebrate and invertebrate zoology, as well as mineralogy, palaeontology and anthropology. In the museum's early years, collecting was its main priority, and specimens were commonly traded with British and other European institutions.

In 1832 [ clarification needed ] George Bennett, curator of the Australian Museum, explained the role of the museum:

"Here, in a public museum, the remains of the arts, etc., as existing among them, may be preserved as lasting memorials of the former races inhabiting the lands, when they have ceased to exist."

From a "beautiful Collection of Australian curiosities", the Museum has grown to an internationally recognised collection of over 21 million cultural and scientific objects. The Museum plays a leading role in taxonomic and systematic research, and at its research station at Lizard Island conducts significant research on coral reef ecology. Through exhibitions and other public programs the Australian Museum continues to inform and amaze generations of visitors about the unique flora, fauna and cultures of Australia and the Pacific.

The first custodian of the museum was William Holmes, appointed on 16 June 1829 and holding the position until 1835. In August 1831, Holmes accidentally shot himself while collecting specimens at Moreton Bay.

The museum was originally known as the Colonial Museum or Sydney Museum. It was administered directly by the colonial government until June 1836, until the establishment of a Committee of Superintendence of the Australian Museum and Botanical Garden. Sub-committees were established for each institution. Members of these committees were generally the leading members of the political and scientific classes of Sydney; and scions of the Macleay served until 1853, at which point the committee was abolished. In that year, the government enacted the Australian Museum Act, thereby incorporating it and establishing a board of trustees consisting of 24 members. William Sharp Macleay, the former committee chairman, continued to serve as the chairman of this committee. The museum was renamed in June 1836 by a sub-committee meeting, when it was resolved during an argument that it should be renamed the "Australian Museum".

The scientific stature of the museum was established under the curatorship of Gerard Krefft (1861–1874), himself a published scientist.

After a run of field collecting activities by the scientific staff in the 1880s and 1890s, field work ceased until after the First World War. In the 1920s, new expeditions were launched to New Guinea, the Kermadec Islands and Santa Cruz in the Solomon Islands, as well as to many parts of Australia, including the Capricorn Islands off the coast of Queensland.

During the 19th century, galleries had mainly included large display cases overly filled with specimens and artefacts. During the 1920s, museum displays grew to include dioramas showing habitat groups, but otherwise the Museum was largely unchanged during the period beginning with the curatorship of Robert Etheridge Jr (1895–1919), until the appointment of John Evans in 1954, when under his direction, additional buildings were built, several galleries were overhauled, and a new Exhibitions department was created. The size of the education staff was also radically increased. By the end of the 1950s, all of the galleries had been completely overhauled.

The museum's growth in the field of scientific research continued with a new department of environmental studies, created in 1968 by director Frank Talbot. Research on the Great Barrier Reef began in 1965, with the One Tree Island Research Station established at the southern end(now operated by the University of Sydney ). (around 1965 The museum support society, The Australian Museum Society (TAMS), now known as Australian Museum Members) was formed in 1972, and in 1973 the Lizard Island Research Station (LIRS), was established near Cairns, both under the leadership of Talbot.

The Australian Museum Train, an early outreach project, was officially launched on 8 March 1978. The train was described as "a wonderful new concept of the travelling circus! The only difference is that the travelling Museum Train will bring school children and the people of NSW into contact with the wonders of nature, evolution and Wildlife." [ citation needed ] The two-carriage train was renovated and refurbished at Eveleigh Carriage Workshops, and fitted out with exhibits by the Australian Museum at a cost of about $100,000. One carriage displayed the evolution of the earth, animals and man. The second carriage was a lecture and visual display area. The train ceased operations in December 1988 but the museum's outreach work in regional communities continues. [ citation needed ]

In 1991, the museum established a commercial consulting and project management group, the Australian Museum Business Services (AMBS), now known as Australian Museum Consulting. [ citation needed ] In 1995, the museum established new research centres in conservation, biodiversity, evolutionary research, geodiversity and "People and Places". These research centres have now been incorporated into the museum's natural science collection programs. [ citation needed ] In 1998, the djamu gallery opened at Customs House, Circular Quay, the first major new venue for the museum beyond College Street site. A series of exhibitions on Indigenous culture were displayed until the gallery closed at the end of 2000. [ citation needed ]

In 2001, two rural associate museums were established, The Age of Fishes Museum in Canowindra and the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum in Bathurst which includes the mineral and dinosaur Somerville Collection donated by Warren Somerville. [ citation needed ]

In 2002, ICAC launched Operation Savoy to investigate thefts of the zoological collections by a museum employee.

In 2011, the museum launched its first Mobile App – "DangerOZ" – about Australia's most dangerous animals.

In 2014, Kim McKay AO was appointed the CEO and executive director, a position she still holds as of 2024 [update]. She is the first woman to hold the position

In 2017, museum researchers reassigned a Tasmanian species of semi-slug from the genus Helicarion to Attenborougharion, named after the museum's Lifetime Patron David Attenborough, hence known as Attenborougharion rubicundus.