Welcome to the Australian Museum

Whales | Tohorā

Discover the giants of the ocean

Last chance to see -
exhibition closes 28 April 2019

View details

Museum Opening Hours: 9.30am - 5.00pm
Monday - Sunday
Closed Christmas Day
Where to find us: 1 William Street
Sydney NSW 2010
Australia

Capturing Nature

A unique exhibition showcasing early photography at the Australian Museum between 1857–1893.

Special exhibition

200 Treasures of the Australian Museum

The Westpac Long Gallery showcases 100 treasures from our collections alongside the stories of 100 of Australia’s most-influential people.

Permanent exhibition
Open daily

Museum News

Read about our latest discoveries, research expeditions and collection objects on display.

Blog posts
Podcast series
Explore magazine
Future plans

Explore and celebrate Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures through a rich diversity of objects and stories of living culture. See more than 250 fascinating objects from Indigenous communities around Australia.

Permanent exhibition
Open daily

Plan your Visit

From dinosaurs, precious gemstones to cultural treasures from Australia and the Pacific, the Australian Museum has something for everyone. Open daily 9.30am-5pm, except Christmas day.

What’s on calendar
Admission
Getting here

Birds of Australia

Meet some of Australia’s most famous and fascinating feathered residents and learn about the ingenious ways they have adapted to life on the continent they call home.

Permanent exhibition
Open daily

Dinosaurs

How well do you know your dinosaurs? Discover the amazing creatures that ruled the world until 65 million years ago in this exhibition that brings the Mesozoic era to life.

Permanent exhibition
Open daily

Visit the Museum

From dinosaurs, precious gemstones to cultural treasures from Australia and the Pacific, the Australian Museum has something for everyone. Plan and book your visit today.

Exhibitions & Events Admission & Tickets Getting to the Museum

Tourism Australia - First Nations Galleries

Waranara First Nations tours

waranara means ‘to seek’ in the First Nations languages of the Sydney region. This tour is for those that wish to seek knowledge and understanding of this land’s First Peoples.

Every Saturday, 11.30am & 1pm

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April school holidays

Don't miss one of Sydney’s favourite school holidays programs, with drop-in events, science workshops, behind-the-scenes tours, craft activities, a museum sleepover and even yoga among the animals.

Various times

Learn more

Treasures Illuminated

See the 200 Treasures of the Australian Museum exhibition burst to life with this spectacular storytelling projection in the newly renovated Westpac Long Gallery.

11am and 2pm daily

Find out more

HumanNature

The HumanNature Lecture Series returns to the Australian Museum in 2019 featuring leading international and Australian scholars in the Environmental Humanities.

Monthly night talks

View details

Playgroups for preschoolers

Join our weekly term-time playgroups for children aged 9 months to 3 years (Tiny Tots) or 3 to 5 years (Mini Explorers) and their parents or carers.

Fridays during term time
9.45am and 11am

Learn more

Museum Store

Come and explore our exciting range of products inspired by the Museum's collections. All proceeds help fund our science, education and exhibitions programs.

Open daily 9.30am–5pm

Shop the Museum range

Food and dining

Enjoy food with a view! Take a break on level 4, No. 1 William cafe with stunning views of St Mary’s Cathedral, Hyde Park and the Sydney city skyline.

Open daily 9.30am–4.30pm
Kitchen closes at 3pm

More details

Kids at the Museum

Check out our ever-changing programs for kids of all ages.

Free general admission for kids
Under 5's programs

What’s on

Discover what’s on at the Australian Museum using our exhibitions and events calendar.

Exhibitions
Playgroups
Talks and tours
Workshops

Find out more

Access

Everything you need to know about planning your visit to the Australian Museum.

Facilities & services
Accessible programs

Find out more

Book a group visit

Discover the wide range of educator led programs and self-guided gallery tours at the museum. Bookings are essential for schools and groups.

Tourism packages
Group bookings
School bookings

Educator led programs

Touch real artefacts, discover museum treasures and go behind the scenes of the Australian Museum.

Early years program
Primary & Secondary school programs

Find out more

Where nature, science & culture intersect

We are Australia’s first museum, and have over 21 million scientific specimens and cultural objects in our collections. Learn more about our latest discoveries, animal factsheets and education programs.

Museum News Animal Factsheets Education Programs

Australian Museum blog

Read the latest news from the Australian Museum, or discover our interesting archive of blog posts.

Science news
What's new at the Museum
Educational insights

Cultural collections

Learn about First Nations cultural material in our collections and our engagement with communities to activate stories of living culture.

Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander
Pacific & International

Find out more

Natural Science collections

Discover the different natural science research areas and their extensive collections, including the name-bearing type specimens we hold at the Museum.

Why we collect
Collection areas
Specimens & Types

Find out more

Climate Change

The Australian Museum has been involved in raising awareness and researching impacts of Climate Change for over a decade.

What are we doing?
What is climate change?

Learn more

Object and species identification

We're here to help with Australian animal identification, natural history and cultural object enquiries!

Identify a species
Cultural material
Fossils & minerals

Ask an expert!

Weird whales: the top 6 whale illustrations in the Australian Museum Research Library

Meet the weirdest whales in the Australian Museum Research Library

Museum in a Box®

Learn more about over 30 different Museum boxes available to educational institutions across Australia.

Real specimens
Learning resources
Hands on experiences

Find out more

Chapman Minerals on the move once more

After being on display for two decades at the AM, the Chapman Collection is about to embark on a journey to regional NSW. The Collection is home to hundreds of perfectly formed and beautiful crystals; delightful displays of light, colour and chemical diversity.

Mineralogy
Geoscience

Earth science

The Mineralogy and Palaeontology collections include rocks, minerals, gemstones and fossils, and reveal how the earth was formed.

Shaping the Earth
Minerals
Fossils

Discover more

Animal factsheets

Discover the astonishing variety of mammals, birds, reptiles, marine life and more in the Australian Museum collections.

Invertebrates
Vertebrates
Extinct animals

Find out more

Science of life

Learn about biodiversity, the scientific study of life and organisms, and the story of human evolution.

Stages of Decomposition
The Human story

Learn more

Dinosaurs and their relatives

Discover the Mesozoic era of the dinosaurs! Dinosaurs are classified as a group of reptiles, although some of their features are found in mammals and birds living today.

The Mesozoic era
Dinosaur factsheets
Australian dinosaurs

Find out more

Join & Give

Make a donation. Become a member or volunteer. Or put your passion into practice on a citizen science project. Find out how you can get involved with the Australian Museum.

Become a Member Make a Donation Volunteer with Us

Australian Museum Eureka Prizes

Rewarding excellence in the fields of research & innovation, leadership, science engagement and school science.

FAQs
Key dates
Eureka stories

Enter now!

Westpac Long Gallery Level 1 Collection Cases

Australian Museum Foundation

The Foundation raises funds for scientific research; to offer exceptional exhibitions and educational programs and to acquire significant objects for our collection.

Major Gifts
Giving Programs
Bequests

Find out more

Become a Member

Enjoy the very best of the Australian Museum with free entry, exclusive events and much more.

Benefits
Packages
Reciprocal offers

Join and save today

FrogID

FrogID is a national citizen science project that is helping us learn more about what is happening to Australia’s frogs.

Free mobile app
Record frog calls

Find out more

Join the DigiVol volunteers

Join one of our virtual expeditions and help capture the wealth of information hidden in our Museum.

DigiVol Lab
Online digitisation

Get involved

Volunteer

Discover our exciting volunteer programs and how you can contribute to science research, the environment and culture at the Australian Museum.

Behind-the-scenes
Front-of-house
Citizen science

Find out more

Andrew Trevor-Jones, citizen scientist for Australasian Fishes

Citizen science

See our citizen science projects and discover how you can get involved and contribute!

DigiVol
FrogID
WingTags

Get involved

Life at Lizard: Waging war on the Crown-of-Thorns starfish

Lizard Island Reef Research Foundation

Proudly supporting science at the Australian Museum's Lizard Island Research Station and elsewhere on the Great Barrier Reef.

Support our research
Help save the reef

Get involved

About the Museum

The Australian Museum has been inspiring exploration of nature and culture for more than 190 years. Learn more about what we do, our extraordinary collections or our fascinating history.

Our Organisation Our History Visit the Media Centre

Australian Centre for Wildlife Genomics DNA lab 2015.

Australian Museum Research Institute

AMRI brings together scientific expertise and world-class research infrastructure to increase our knowledge of the world around us and inform environmental decision-making for a better future.

Biodiversity & geodiversity
Collections-based research

Discover more

Australian Museum Annual Reports

The Australian Museum Archives has digitised all the Annual Reports from 1853 to the present. Download our Annual Reports here.

2017-18 Annual Report
Annual Reports from the Archives

Australian Museum Lizard Island Research Station

The Lizard Island Research Station is a world-leading supplier of on-reef facilities for coral reef research and education. Located on the northern Great Barrier Reef, 270 km north of Cairns in Queensland, Australia.

Research
Facilities
Planning a Trip
Resources

Discover more

Australian Museum News

Hear behind-the-scenes stories and read about our latest discoveries, research expeditions and collection objects on display.

Blog posts
Podcast series
Explore magazine
Future plans

Find out more

Australian Centre for Wildlife Genomics

Our primary focus is on ecological applications such as species identification, individualisation, conservation and small population management.

Aviation wildlife strike
Conservation genomic projects

Learn more

Archives & Research Library

The Museum Archives and Research Library cares for the Museum’s institutional memory and its historic natural history book and journal collections dating from 1836.

Photographic archives
History
Rare books

Explore the archives

Australian Museum Archival images 200 Treasures

Our History

Find out about the history of the Museum’s zoological and anthropological collections, its historic and contemporary buildings and the people who have worked here over nearly two centuries.

Celebrating 190 years
Past exhibitions
People

Our Organisation

More than a leading Sydney attraction, the Australian Museum is a hub of information, resources and research. Learn more about Australia’s first museum.

Mission statement
Leadership team
Polices and reports

Australian Museum - Master Plan NOV 2016

Future plans for the Museum

Project Discover is the first step in the realisation of its vision for the Museum, and will significantly enhance our visitor experiences, education services and public amenities.

$57.5 million upgrade

Visit the Museum

Waranara First Nations tours

April school holidays

Treasures Illuminated

HumanNature

Playgroups for preschoolers

Museum Store

Food and dining

Kids at the Museum

What’s on

Access

Book a group visit

Educator led programs

Where nature, science & culture intersect

Australian Museum blog

Cultural collections

Natural Science collections

Climate Change

Object and species identification

Weird whales: the top 6 whale illustrations in the Australian Museum Research Library

Museum in a Box®

Chapman Minerals on the move once more

Earth science

Animal factsheets

Science of life

Dinosaurs and their relatives

Join & Give

Australian Museum Eureka Prizes

Australian Museum Foundation

Become a Member

FrogID

Join the DigiVol volunteers

Volunteer

Citizen science

Lizard Island Reef Research Foundation

About the Museum

Australian Museum Research Institute

Australian Museum Annual Reports

Australian Museum Lizard Island Research Station

Australian Museum News

Australian Centre for Wildlife Genomics

Archives & Research Library

Our History

Our Organisation

Future plans for the Museum

Members get access to great benefits!