Landmark Australia and Oceania
Australian Museum
The Australian Museum is a big old museum in Sydney. It began in 1827, and it is Australia's very first museum!
The Australian Museum in Sydney is the nation's first museum, set up in 1827. It stands opposite Hyde Park and holds more than 22 million specimens and objects, from animals and minerals to cultural collections. Its first permanent building opened in 1857, and more wings have been added ever since.
Founded in 1827 as the Colonial or Sydney Museum and renamed the Australian Museum in 1836, the AM is Australia's first museum. Its first permanent building, designed by Mortimer Lewis, was begun in 1846 and opened in 1857; later wings followed in the 1860s, 1910 and 1963, a new William Street entry hall in 2015-2016, and a major renovation reopened in November 2020.
Photo: J Bar at the English-language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Discover the Australian Museum
The Australian Museum is in Sydney, across the road from Hyde Park.
It keeps millions of things, from animal specimens to rocks and minerals.
The Australian Museum stands opposite Hyde Park in Sydney. The museum calls itself the nation's first museum and one of its most important cultural and scientific institutions.
It holds more than 22 million specimens and objects, covering the natural sciences, minerals and cultural collections. Its first permanent building, begun in 1846, opened to the public in 1857.
The AM describes itself as the nation's first museum and one of its most significant cultural and scientific institutions. Located opposite Hyde Park, it holds more than 22 million specimens and objects spanning the natural sciences, mineralogy and cultural collections, which the museum calls one of the largest and most diverse collections in the Southern Hemisphere.
With frontages on William Street and College Street, its buildings overlook the eastern side of Hyde Park.
- Where
- Opposite Hyde Park, Sydney
- Founded
- 1827
- Specimens and objects
- More than 22 million
- First building opened
- 1857
Australia's first museum
The museum began in 1827, almost 200 years ago.
At first it had other names, and in 1836 it became the Australian Museum.
The museum began in 1827 with a plan to gather and display 'many rare and curious specimens of Natural History'. At first it was called both the Sydney Museum and the Colonial Museum, and in 1836 it was renamed the Australian Museum.
For its first years it moved between several temporary homes, until work on a building of its own began in 1846.
The museum traces its creation to a letter of March 1827 from the British Secretary of State for the Colonies to the Governor of New South Wales, committing 200 pounds a year for a 'Publick Museum'. Its goal was to gather and display 'many rare and curious specimens of Natural History'.
Known as both the Sydney Museum and the Colonial Museum, it was renamed the Australian Museum in 1836. Before 1846 it moved through several temporary homes, including rooms in the Legislative Council building and a new court house.
Wing by wing
Builders started the museum's first building in 1846.
Later, more parts called wings were added, so the museum grew bigger and bigger.
The architect Mortimer Lewis designed the first building, and construction began in 1846. It opened to the public in 1857 with its Long Gallery, Australia's first purpose-built museum gallery.
The Barnet Wing on College Street, begun in 1861, opened in 1868 and tripled the exhibition space. The Vernon Wing followed in 1910 and the Parkes Farmer Wing in 1963.
Mortimer Lewis designed the first permanent building; construction began in 1846, the buildings first opened to the public in 1854 with an exhibition on its way to Paris, and the museum formally opened in May 1857 with the Long Gallery, Australia's first purpose-built museum gallery.
The Barnet Wing (begun 1861) opened in 1868 and tripled the exhibition space; another museum page says it was built in 1870. The Vernon Wing and a lecture theater opened in 1910, and the windowless modernist Parkes Farmer Wing of 1963 almost doubled the floor space.
Old and new
In 1910 a whale skeleton was hung at the front entrance, and it is still on display!
Today visitors come in through a bright glass hall.
When the Vernon Wing opened in 1910, a sperm whale skeleton was hung at the front entrance, and it is still on display.
In 2015 the museum moved its entrance from College Street to William Street, where the Crystal Hall, a glass entry hall with a curtain of colored glass diamonds, won a 2016 architecture award.
To mark the Vernon Wing's opening in 1910, a sperm whale skeleton collected in 1871 was suspended at the front entrance; the museum's timeline says it remains on display. In 2015, after 125 years of a College Street entrance, the museum built a new entry on William Street: the Crystal Hall, with a curtain of colored glass diamonds, and a 4.5-meter-wide ramp called Museum Walk.
After a year of renovations, the museum reopened in November 2020 with more than 3,000 square meters of new public space.
- Long Gallery opened
- May 1857
- Barnet Wing opened
- 1868
- Parkes Farmer Wing
- 1963
- Reopened after renovation
- November 2020
On College Street
This photo shows the museum's tall stone walls and big columns.
Cars drive along the road in front on a sunny day.
This photo was taken on 1 September 2006 on College Street. It shows the museum's pale golden stone walls, rows of windows, tall columns with carved tops under a triangular roof, two trees and a road with white cars.
In 2015 the museum announced free general admission for children under 16.
The photographer (J Bar, own work) took it on 1 September 2006 on College Street: the tall columns with carved tops and the triangular gable at the right, a long front of windows, a rooftop railing at the left, a bare tree and a leafy tree, steps, street signs and white cars on the road.
In 2015 the museum announced free general admission for children under 16.
Amazing facts
-
A whale skeleton has been on display since 1910!
A sperm whale skeleton was hung at the museum's front entrance in 1910, and it is still on display.
A sperm whale skeleton collected in 1871 was suspended at the front entrance in 1910 to mark the Vernon Wing's opening; the museum's timeline says it remains on display.
-
The Long Gallery was Australia's first gallery built just for a museum!
The Long Gallery, opened in May 1857, was Australia's first purpose-built museum gallery.
The museum calls the Long Gallery, opened in May 1857, Australia's first purpose-built museum gallery.
-
The Barnet Wing made the museum's display space three times bigger!
When the Barnet Wing opened in 1868, it tripled the museum's exhibition space.
The Barnet Wing, begun in 1861 and opened in 1868, tripled the exhibition space.
Words to know
- museum
- a building where objects are kept, studied and shown to visitors
- specimen
- a real animal, plant, rock or other natural object kept for study
- wing
- a part of a building that sticks out from the main part or was added later
- gallery
- a room or hall where things are put on display
- column
- a tall post that holds up part of a building
- natural history
- the study of animals, plants, rocks and other things in nature
Discovery challenge
-
In which city is the Australian Museum?
In which city does the Australian Museum stand, opposite Hyde Park?
The Australian Museum stands opposite Hyde Park in which city?
- Sydney
- Perth
- Darwin
Show the answer
Sydney
Sydney!
Sydney.
Sydney, New South Wales.
-
When did the museum begin?
In which year was the Australian Museum founded?
In which year did Britain's Secretary of State for the Colonies commit 200 pounds a year for a museum in New South Wales?
- 1827
- 1927
- 1727
Show the answer
1827
In 1827!
In 1827.
1827.
-
What was one of the museum's first names?
What was the museum called before it was renamed in 1836?
Besides the Sydney Museum, what was the institution known as before 1836?
- The Colonial Museum
- The Harbor Museum
- The Bridge Museum
Show the answer
The Colonial Museum
The Colonial Museum!
The Colonial Museum (and the Sydney Museum).
The Colonial Museum.
-
What kind of room was the Long Gallery the first of in Australia?
The Long Gallery, opened in 1857, was Australia's first what?
What does the museum say the Long Gallery was, when it opened in May 1857?
- A gallery built just for a museum
- A train station
- A swimming pool
Show the answer
A gallery built just for a museum
A gallery built just for a museum!
Australia's first purpose-built museum gallery.
Australia's first purpose-built museum gallery.
-
About how many things does the museum keep?
About how many specimens and objects does the museum hold?
How many specimens and objects does the Australian Museum say it holds?
- More than 22 million
- About 2,200
- About 220
Show the answer
More than 22 million
More than 22 million!
More than 22 million.
More than 22 million, across the natural sciences, mineralogy and cultural collections.
Nearby places
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City
Sydney
Sydney is Australia's largest city and the capital of the state of New South Wales. It surrounds Port Jackson, a harbor of countless bays, on the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. The British set up a convict colony here in 1788. Today the Harbour Bridge, the Opera House and its beaches are world famous, and about 5.45 million people lived in Greater Sydney in 2023.
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Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House stands on a point of land in Sydney Harbour, Australia. Danish architect Jørn Utzon won a competition to design it in 1957, building began in 1959, and it opened on October 20, 1973. Its shell-shaped roofs are covered in more than a million tiles.
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Sydney Harbour Bridge
The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel arch bridge across Sydney Harbour in Australia. Its arch spans 503 meters, and the top of the arch is 134 meters above the sea. Work began in 1923, and the bridge opened on 19 March 1932. It carries cars, trains, bicycles and people walking.
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City
Canberra
Canberra is the capital of Australia. Instead of growing slowly, it was planned: in 1912 Walter Burley Griffin, a city planner from Chicago, won a competition to design it, and the city was named in 1913. Its center is a lake made by damming a river, and Parliament House is built into a hill with grass on its roof.
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National Library of Australia
The National Library of Australia keeps about 10 million items for the whole country. Its main building in Canberra, on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin, opened on 15 August 1968. Tall columns surround it, and its walls are covered in pale marble.
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Siding Spring Observatory
Siding Spring Observatory sits on Mount Woorut in New South Wales, Australia, next to Warrumbungle National Park. The Australian National University chose the site in 1962 for its dark, cloudless skies. Today it is home to many telescopes, including the Anglo-Australian Telescope, the largest optical telescope in Australia.
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Natural wonder
Mount Kosciuszko
Mount Kosciuszko, 2,228 meters high, is the highest mountain on the Australian mainland (Geoscience Australia). It rises from the rolling tablelands of the Snowy Mountains, where glaciers once carved Blue Lake, and rare alpine plants and animals live.
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Melbourne Museum
Melbourne Museum opened on 21 October 2000 in the Carlton Gardens, Melbourne. Designed by the architects Denton Corker Marshall, it stands just north of the Royal Exhibition Building, a World Heritage Site, and it has welcomed more than 23 million visitors.
Explore next
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Country
Australia
Australia is a country and the smallest continent, surrounded by ocean in the Southern Hemisphere. Much of its middle is dry and flat, most people live near the coast, and its animals include kangaroos, koalas and the platypus, a mammal that lays eggs.
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City
Sydney
Sydney is Australia's largest city and the capital of the state of New South Wales. It surrounds Port Jackson, a harbor of countless bays, on the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. The British set up a convict colony here in 1788. Today the Harbour Bridge, the Opera House and its beaches are world famous, and about 5.45 million people lived in Greater Sydney in 2023.
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British Museum
The British Museum in London was founded in 1753 and opened in 1759. It holds treasures from all over the world, like the Rosetta Stone, which helped people learn to read Egyptian hieroglyphs. Its grand building with columns was built from 1823 to 1847, and in 2025 it had more than 6.4 million visits.
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Landmark
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House stands on a point of land in Sydney Harbour, Australia. Danish architect Jørn Utzon won a competition to design it in 1957, building began in 1959, and it opened on October 20, 1973. Its shell-shaped roofs are covered in more than a million tiles.
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Watch
Landmark
Melbourne Museum
Melbourne Museum opened on 21 October 2000 in the Carlton Gardens, Melbourne. Designed by the architects Denton Corker Marshall, it stands just north of the Royal Exhibition Building, a World Heritage Site, and it has welcomed more than 23 million visitors.
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Kuk Swamp
Kuk Swamp is a wetland in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, about 1,500 meters above sea level. Digging there has shown that people have farmed it almost without a break for 7,000 years, and possibly for 10,000 years. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008.
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National Gallery of Victoria
The National Gallery of Victoria is an art museum on St Kilda Road in Melbourne, Australia. Its building, designed by the architect Roy Grounds, opened in 1968. It has walls of bluestone, a water wall at the front and a Great Hall with a stained-glass ceiling by Leonard French.
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Landmark
National Library of Australia
The National Library of Australia keeps about 10 million items for the whole country. Its main building in Canberra, on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin, opened on 15 August 1968. Tall columns surround it, and its walls are covered in pale marble.
For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Explain what a natural history museum collects and why.
- Describe how a building can grow by adding new wings over time.
- Put the museum's main dates in order on a timeline.
Recommended ages: 4 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Why do museums keep millions of specimens when only a few are on display?
- Why might a museum move its main entrance?
- What object from today would you want a museum to keep for the future?
Try at home or in class
- Start a mini nature collection: gather a few leaves, stones or shells, and write a label for each with where and when you found it.
- Draw a building, then add a new wing to it in a different color.
Key vocabulary: museum, specimen, wing, gallery, column, natural history
Where these facts come from
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- History of the Australian Museum , The Australian Museum
- Australian Museum timeline , The Australian Museum
- Our buildings through time , The Australian Museum
- 200 Treasures of the Australian Museum , The Australian Museum
- File:AustralianMuseum.jpg , Wikimedia Commons
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file (public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA); see each media record)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated November 1, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.