The National Museum of Australia, in the national capital

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

, preserves and interprets

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation. It was formally established by the ''National Museum of Australia Act 1980''. The museum did not have a permanent home until 11 March 2001, when a purpose-built museum building was officially opened. The museum profiles 50,000 years of Indigenous heritage, settlement since 1788 and key events including

Federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-gover ...

and the Sydney 2000 Olympics. The museum holds the world's largest collection of Aboriginal bark paintings and stone tools, the heart of champion racehorse Phar Lap and the

Holden Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. It was an Australian automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter which sold cars under its own marque in Australia. In its last thr ...

prototype No. 1 car. The museum also develops and travels exhibitions on subjects ranging from

bushrangers Bushrangers were originally escaped convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who used the bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities. By the 1820s, the term had evolved to refer to those who took up "robbery under ...

to surf lifesaving. The National Museum of Australia Press publishes a wide range of books, catalogues and journals. The museum's Research Centre takes a cross-disciplinary approach to history, ensuring the museum is a lively forum for ideas and debate about Australia's past, present and future. The museum's innovative use of new technologies has been central to its growing international reputation in outreach programming, particularly with regional communities. From 2003 to 2008, the museum hosted '' Talkback Classroom'', a student political forum. The museum is located on Acton Peninsula in the suburb of Acton, next to the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...

. The peninsula on Lake Burley Griffin was previously the home of the Royal Canberra Hospital, which was demolished in tragic circumstances on 13 July 1997.

Architecture

National Museum of Australia (437595660)

Interior of the National Museum of Australia

As designed by architect

Howard Raggatt Howard Raggatt is an Australian architect, member of the firm Ashton Raggatt McDougall, and best known for the design of the National Museum of Australia The National Museum of Australia, in the national capital Canberra, preserves and inter ...

(design architect and design director for the project), the museum building is based on a theme of knotted ropes, symbolically bringing together the stories of Australians. The architects stated: "We liked to think that the story of Australia was not one, but many tangled together. Not an authorized version but a puzzling confluence; not merely the resolution of difference but its wholehearted embrace." The building is meant to be the centre of a knot, with trailing ropes or strips extending from the building. The most obvious of these extensions forms a large loop before becoming a walkway which extends past the neighbouring

AIATSIS The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, ...

building ending in a large curl, as if a huge ribbon has haphazardly unrolled itself along the ground. Known as the "

Uluru Uluru (; pjt, Uluṟu ), also known as Ayers Rock ( ) and officially gazetted as UluruAyers Rock, is a large sandstone formation in the centre of Australia. It is in the southern part of the Northern Territory, southwest of Alice Spring ...

Axis" because it aligns with the central Australian natural landmark, the ribbon symbolically integrates the site with the Canberra city plan by

Walter Burley Griffin Walter Burley Griffin (November 24, 1876February 11, 1937) was an American architect and landscape architect. He is known for designing Canberra, Australia's capital city and the New South Wales towns of Griffith and Leeton. He has been cr ...

and the spiritual heart of indigenous Australia. The shape of the main entrance hall continues this theme: it is as though the otherwise rectangular building has been built encasing a complex knot which does not quite fit inside the building, and then the knot taken away. The entirely non-symmetrical complex is designed to not look like a museum, with startling colours and angles, unusual spaces and unpredictable projections and textures. Though hard to precisely categorise, the building can be seen as an example of Charles Jencks' "new paradigm". Some characteristics of

Deconstructivism Deconstructivism is a movement of postmodern architecture which appeared in the 1980s. It gives the impression of the fragmentation of the constructed building, commonly characterised by an absence of obvious harmony, continuity, or symmetry. ...

can also be identified. The organising concept of the scheme using the idea of a "tangled vision" incorporates a variety of references including: * Bea Maddock's "Philosophy Tape" *

Jackson Pollock Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionism, abstract expressionist movement. He was widely noticed for his "Drip painting, drip technique" of pouring or splas ...

's " Blue Poles" * boolean string, a

knot A knot is an intentional complication in cordage which may be practical or decorative, or both. Practical knots are classified by function, including hitches, bends, loop knots, and splices: a ''hitch'' fastens a rope to another object; a ...

, and

Ariadne's thread Ariadne (; grc-gre, Ἀριάδνη; la, Ariadne) was a Cretan princess in Greek mythology. She was mostly associated with mazes and labyrinths because of her involvement in the myths of the Minotaur and Theseus. She is best known for having ...

*the Aboriginal Dreamtime story of the Rainbow Serpent making the land.Anne Susskind quoted in The building's architecture is thus meant to imply that the story of Australia is not one story, but many stories tangled together. The building also refers to or quotes other buildings: *a Burley-Griffin designed cloister at Newman College in Melbourne *the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...

both the parts designed by Jørn Utzon, and sections designed by the other architects *the shell curves of Félix Candela *the Hall is evocative of

Eero Saarinen Eero Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1910 – September 1, 1961) was a Finnish-American architect and industrial designer noted for his wide-ranging array of designs for buildings and monuments. Saarinen is best known for designing the General Motors ...

's terminal at the J F Kennedy Airport in New York *the arc is like a piece of work by Richard Serra *the Garden of Australian Dreams is meant to evoke a range of different cartographies *the walls use selected fragments of the word Eternityevoking the story of Arthur Stace who for thirty years chalked this single word on the pavements of Sydney *the most controversial quotation is a reference to the

Daniel Libeskind Daniel Libeskind (born May 12, 1946) is a Polish–American architect, artist, professor and set designer. Libeskind founded Studio Daniel Libeskind in 1989 with his wife, Nina, and is its principal design architect. He is known for the design a ...

's Jewish Museum Berlin, Germany which opened in 1999 The plan of the National Museum of Australia incorporates an exact copy of the lightning-flash zigzag that Libeskind created for the Berlin Museum by breaking a

star of David The Star of David (). is a generally recognized symbol of both Jewish identity and Judaism. Its shape is that of a hexagram: the compound of two equilateral triangles. A derivation of the ''seal of Solomon'', which was used for decorative ...

. '' The Bulletin'' magazine first publicly raised allegations of

plagiarism Plagiarism is the fraudulent representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 '' Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close imitation of the language and though ...

in June 2000. Libeskind was reported to be angry with the copying. Raggatt's defence against plagiarism was that the design was a quotation rather than a copy. The director of the museum, Dawn Casey, stated that she and her council were not aware of this symbolism when they approved the plan. The exterior of the building is covered in anodised

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...

panels. Many of the panels include words written in

braille Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are blind, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille displ ...

and other decorative devices. Among the messages are "mate" and "she'll be right". Also included were such controversial words and phrases as "sorry" and "forgive us our genocide". These more controversial messages have been obscured with silver discs being attached to the surface making the braille illegible. Among the phrases in braille are the words "Resurrection city". The phrase may refer to the clearing of the former Canberra Hospital to make way for the museum or it could be a reference to reconciliation between

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

and European settlers. The phrase is used as a label in tiles on another of Raggett's buildings, the

Storey Hall Storey Hall, located at 342–344 Swanston Street in Melbourne, Australia, is part of the RMIT City campus of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University). It consists of a grand meeting hall constructed in 1887, extended and ...

in Melbourne. Raggett says of that message: "I guess that tries to be some big sort of theme for this building as well and its sort of set of memories." It was built by Bovis Lend Lease and completed in 2001.

Hail storm damage

CENTRAL HALL IN THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM IN CANBERRA

A severe thunderstorm hit Canberra on the afternoon of 29 December 2006 and caused roof damage to the administration section of the museum. The ceiling collapsed under the weight of hail. The damage exposed power cables and left two centimetres of water on the floor. The water also damaged several paintings by a Sydney artist which were associated with an exhibition about Australian lifesavers. However, the main part of the building was unaffected and nothing from the museum's collection was damaged. The building was re-opened to the public a day later. The damage was expected to cost at least A$500,000 to repair.

Building works 2012/13

In 2012, building works commenced on a new cafe and administration wing. The new cafe opened in late 2012. It overlooks Lake Burley Griffin and offers both indoor and outdoor dining. The relocation of the museum's cafe freed up the vast entry Hall for the display of large objects from the museum's collection, including vehicles. The new administration wing, which links the main building with the existing administration building, was completed in mid-2013. The new building is clad in brightly coloured tiles arranged in a

QR code A QR code (an initialism for quick response code) is a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional barcode) invented in 1994 by the Japanese company Denso Wave. A barcode is a machine-readable optical label that can contain information about t ...

pattern.

Collection

The museum's collection, known as the National Historical Collection, includes over 210,000 objects. The collection focuses on three themes: the culture and history of Aboriginal and

Torres Strait Islander Torres Strait Islanders () are the Indigenous Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal people of the rest of Australia ...

peoples, Australian history and culture since European settlement in 1788, and interactions between people and the Australian environment. Notable objects (as identified by the museum on their website) include: * Various items relating to the death of Azaria Chamberlain, including a Yellow Holden Torana ( Later sold to the museum by Dr Michael Chamberlain.) *

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist. B ...

s owned by Australian cyclist and 2011 winner of the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

Cadel Evans Cadel Lee Evans (; born 14 February 1977) is an Australian former professional racing cyclist, who competed professionally in both mountain biking and road bicycle racing. A four-time Olympian, Evans is one of three non-Europeans – along with ...

* navigational instruments used by Captain James Cook *

medical equipment A medical device is any device intended to be used for medical purposes. Significant potential for hazards are inherent when using a device for medical purposes and thus medical devices must be proved safe and effective with reasonable assura ...

used by Fred Hollows * a Holey Dollar, the first currency minted in Australia *

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

memorabilia A souvenir (), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and transported home by the traveler as a ...

of Liz Ellis * Olympic medals won by

John Konrads John Konrads ( lv, Jānis Konrads; 21 May 1942 – 25 April 2021) was an Australian freestyle swimmer of the 1950s and 1960s, who won the 1500 m freestyle at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. In his career, he set 26 individual world records, an ...

at the 1960 Rome Olympics *

props A prop, formally known as (theatrical) property, is an object used on stage or screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinc ...

from children's television show Play School * an Australian flag found in the ruins of World Trade Center Three after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

* the fleece of Chris the sheep The museum also functions as a temporary repository for the repatriation of ancestral remains. It is involved in projects to return the remains of indigenous Australians, held in the collections of museums across the world, to their communities of origin. These projects have seen the return of over 1400 remains as at March 2019.

Past exhibitions

As a social history museum, National Museum of Australia exhibitions explore the land, nation and people of Australia.

''Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters''

On 15 September 2017, the exhibition ''Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters'', referencing the creation story of the Seven Sisters that is common to many groups in the Western and

Central Desert The deserts of Australia or the Australian deserts cover about , or 18% of the Australian mainland, but about 35% of the Australian continent receives so little rain, it is practically desert. Collectively known as the Great Australian desert, th ...

s, was launched at the NGA. It was instigated by anangu, and was a collaboration with Aboriginal elders who are custodians of the Dreamtimestory. The exhibition included a huge painting called ''Yarrkalpa — Hunting Ground'', which symbolically depicts the area around Parnngurr in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...

, showing the seasons, cultural burning practices and Indigenous management of the land and natural resources. In June 2022, the work was projected onto the

as part of the Vivid Sydney festival. The exhibition ran until February 2018, and travelled to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

, Germany, in 2022 and is due to be shown in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, France, in 2023.

Other past exhibitions

Other past exhibitions include: * ''Museum Workshop'': examined the behind-the-scenes world of the conservators responsible for the physical care of objects in the museum's collection (October 2012 - January 2013). * ''Off the Walls: Art from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs Agencies 1967–2005'': traced the history of artworks given to or acquired by federal Indigenous agencies - it included a collection of some 2000 works in the National Museum of Australia's National Historical Collection (October 2011 - June 2012) * ''Inside: Life in Children's Homes and Institutions'': featured the words, voices and objects of the Forgotten Australians, former child migrants and those who experienced institutional care as children (November 2011 - February 2012) * ''Not Just Ned: A true history of the Irish in Australia'': an exhibition about the history and extraordinary influence of the Irish in Australia, from the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 to the present (March–July 2011) * ''Behind the Lines: The Year's Best Cartoons 2010'': celebrated the wit and artistry of Australia's established political cartoonists as well as recognising the talents of a new generation of cartoonists (December 2010 - October 2011) * ''Exploration and Endeavour: The Royal Society of London and the South Seas'': celebrated the 350th anniversary of the Royal Society of London and brought together unique treasures associated with voyages of scientific discovery to the South Seas (September 2010 - February 2011) * ''Papunya Painting: Out of the Australian Desert'': highlighted the museum's extraordinary collection of Indigenous Western Desert art (June–August 2010) * ''Behind the Lines: The Year's Best Cartoons 2009'': featured a selection of some of the best Australian political cartoons published in 2009 (December 2009 - January 2010) * ''A Fine Yarn: Innovations in Australia's Wool Industry'': examined the fine wool industry in Australia today, while recognising the importance of wool in Australia's social and economic history (July–November 2009) * ''Behind the Lines: The Year's Best Cartoons 2008'': featured a selection of the best Australian political cartoons published in 2008 (December 2008 - February 2009) * ''Utopia: The Genius of Emily Kame Kngwarreye'': told the story of Emily Kame Kngwarreye, one of Australia's greatest contemporary artists (August–October 2008) * ''Behind the Lines: The Year's Best Cartoons 2007'': exhibited the best of the museum's latest set of cartoon acquisitions from artists around Australia including Alan Moir, Bill Leak, Cathy Wilcox, Geoff Pryor, John Spooner and Mark Knight (December 2007 - February 2008) * ''Papunya Painting: Out of the Desert'': highlighted the museum's extraordinary collection of Indigenous Western Desert art – works that have rarely been seen in Australia (November 2007 - February 2008) * ''Migration Memories'': explored the migration stories of people from diverse backgrounds who now call the distinctively different regional centres of Lightning Ridge (an opal mining town in central north NSW) and Robinvale (a horticultural town on the Murray River in north western Victoria) home (September–November 2007) * ''Australia at Expo 67 Montreal'': forty years after Canada's Montreal welcomed more than 50 million visitors to Expo 67 over a period of six months, this exhibition explored the world of Australia at Expo 67 (September–October 2007) * ''Great Railway Journeys of Australia'': explored the development of Australia's rail network and featured some of the most famous railway journeys in the country such as the old and new Ghan, the Queenslander and the Indian Pacific (April–August 2007) * ''Miss Australia: A Nation's Quest'': traced the history of the Miss Australia quest from 1907 through to its final year in 2000 (March–June 2007) * ''70% Urban'': drew on the museum's collection to explore Indigenous culture in the city (March 2007 - March 2008) * ''Collector Cam King'': displayed a selection of Brian and Barbara Lynch's old grocery wares and toys following their win in the Collector Cam competition run by ABC Television's ''Collectors'' program (January–February 2007) * ''Between the Flags: 100 Years of Surf Lifesaving'': developed in conjunction with Surf Lifesaving Australia, this exhibition celebrated the centenary of surf lifesaving in Australia (December 2006 - March 2007) * ''Behind the Lines: The Year's Best Cartoons 2006'': featured the best of the museum's 2006 acquisitions of cartoons from cartoonists around Australia (December 2006 - March 2007) * ''Dhari a Krar: Headdresses and Masks from the Torres Strait'': developed in collaboration with the Cairns Regional Art Gallery, this exhibition brought together a diverse collection of masks, headdresses and dance objects from the Torres Strait (July 2006 - July 2011) * ''Captivating and Curious'': displayed the National Museum's rich and varied collection, with new acquisitions and old favourites from the National Historical Collection (December 2005 to March 2006) * ''In Search of the Birdsville Track: An Artist in the Outback'': featured sketches and writings donated to the museum's collection by

Noelle Sandwith Noelle Ora Sandwith (31 July 1927 – 21 April 2006) was a South African-born English artist. The great-great granddaughter of the surgeon William Marsden, she trained in art schools of London before earning employment sketching portraits o ...

that capture the unique environment, characters and lifestyles of the Birdsville Track (June–October 2005) * ''Behind the Lines: The Year's Best Cartoons 2004'': a selection of the best works entered in the 2004 political cartooning competition (March–June 2005) * ''Extremes: Survival in the Great Deserts of the Southern Hemisphere'': explored some of the world's great southern deserts, tracing the history, culture and commonalities of Southern Africa's Namib and Kalahari deserts, South America's Atacama, and Australia's Red Centre (December 2004 - August 2005) * ''Behind the Lines: The Year's Best Cartoons 2003'': brought together a selection of the best works entered in the National Museum of Australia's 2003 Political Cartooning Competition (May–June 2004) * ''Royal Romance'': examined Australia's passionate response to Queen Elizabeth II's first visit to Australia in 1954, and whether the nation has fallen out of love since (February–October 2004) * ''Paipa'': explored Torres Strait Islander migration and the continuing strong cultural connections between mainland communities and the Torres Strait (July 2002 - July 2006) * ''Nation: Symbols of Australia'': from the Hills hoist clothes line to the legend of ANZAC, this exhibition approached Australian history through Australian symbols (March 2001 - January 2010) * ''Horizons: The Peopling of Australia since 1788'': traced stories of human relocation and looked at how migration has shaped Australia (March 2001 - October 2007)

Tourism awards

In the annual Australian Tourism Awards, the National Museum was named Australia's Major Tourist Attraction in both 2005 and 2006. The museum was named winner of the Canberra and Capital Region's Tourism Award for Major Tourist Attraction five years running from 2003 to 2007.Canberra and Capital Region Tourism Awards: Past winners
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References

External links