Description of the attraction
The Australian Museum is the country's oldest museum and an internationally recognized institute for the study of natural history and anthropology. It contains extensive collections of vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as exhibits introducing mineralogy, paleontology and anthropology in Australia and other regions of the world. An important area of the museum's work is scientific research in the history and culture of indigenous peoples.
Located on College Street, it was originally known as the Colonial or Sydney Museum, and got its current name in June 1836 after much controversy. The very idea of creating a museum belongs to the Philosophical Society of Australasia, and it appeared in 1821, at the same time they began to collect the first collections. However, a year later, the Society collapsed, and the next enthusiast for the creation of the museum appeared only in 1826 - it was Alexander Maclee, an entomologist from London, appointed secretary of the colony of New South Wales.
The first room for the museum's collections was a small room in the Secretariat of the Colony, then the museum moved several times until in 1849 it acquired a permanent "residence" in the current building. Situated at the corner of College and Park Streets right across from Hyde Park, this pretty sandstone building was designed by architect James Barnett. In the middle of the 20th century, additional "wings" were added to the museum building, several galleries were completely renovated, and an Exhibition Department was created. The number of full-time employees responsible for educational programs has also been significantly increased.
In March 1978, the Museum came up with an unusual initiative - according to his project, the Australian Museum Exhibition Train was launched, which was supposed to "introduce schoolchildren and residents of New South Wales to the amazing world of nature and evolution." In one train car one could get acquainted with the evolution of our planet, animals and humans. In another - listen to exciting lectures. In two years, the train traveled around all the settlements of the state!
In 1995, the museum established new research centers in the field of nature conservation, biodiversity, planetary evolution, geodiversity, etc.
