The Australian Museum is the country's oldest museum and an internationally recognised institute for the study of natural history and anthropology. It has extensive collections of vertebrate and invertebrate animals, as well as exhibits on mineralogy, palaeontology and anthropology of Australia and other regions of the world. An important area of the museum's work is scientific research in the field of indigenous history and culture.
Located on Coledge Street, it was originally known as the Colonial or Sydney Museum, and was given its current name in June 1836 after much controversy. The very idea of establishing the museum came from the Philosophical Society of Australasian Philosophical Society, and it came about in 1821, at which time the first collections. However, a year later, the Society broke up, and the next enthusiast for the creation of a museum museum did not appear until 1826 - it was Alexander Mackley, an entomologist from London, who had been appointed secretary of the colony of New South Wales.
The first space for the museum's collections was a small room in the Secretariat of the Colony Secretariat, then the museum moved several times until in 1849 it found a permanent "home" in 1849. a permanent home in the present building. It is a handsome sandstone building, on the corner of College Street and Park Street, directly opposite Hyde Park, was designed by architect James Barnett. In the mid-20th century, additional "roofs" were added to the additional "wings" were added to the museum building in the mid-20th century, several galleries were completely renovated, and an Exhibition Department was established. The number of staff the number of full-time staff responsible for educational programmes.
In March 1978, the Museum took the unusual initiative to launch the Australian Museum Exhibition Train, which was designed to "introduce schoolchildren and the people of New South Wales to the wonderful world of of nature and evolution". In one carriage of the train, you could learn about the evolution of our planet, animals and humans. In another, you could listen to fascinating lectures. In two years, the train travelled to every community in the state!
In 1995, the museum established new research centres in the fields of conservation, biodiversity, planetary evolution, geodiversity, and more.
