The Victoria Police Museum is a law enforcement museum operated by the Historical Services Unit within

Victoria Police Victoria Police is the primary law enforcement agency of the Australian States and territories of Australia, state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It was formed in 1853 and currently operates under the ''Victoria Police Act 2013''. , Victor ...

. The new state-of-the-art museum reopened to the public on Monday 25 September 2023, following a 3 year build and development. The museum's collection includes relics and artefacts from over 150 years of crime and policing in the state of Victoria, including a forensic evidence brief used to convict, Julian Knight of the

Hoddle Street massacre The Hoddle Street massacre was a mass shooting that occurred on the evening of Sunday, 9 August 1987, in Hoddle Street, Melbourne, Hoddle Street, Clifton Hill, Victoria, Clifton Hill, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, in A ...

, wreckage from the Russell Street bombing of police headquarters, and the

death mask A death mask is a likeness (typically in wax or plaster cast) of a person's face after their death, usually made by taking a cast or impression from the corpse. Death masks may be mementos of the dead or be used for creation of portraits. The m ...

of executed murderer Frederick Deeming. The museum held the backplate of the armour of the bushranger Ned Kelly, until 2002 when it donated the piece to the

State Library of Victoria State Library Victoria (SLV) is the state library of Victoria, Australia. Located in Melbourne, it was established in 1854 as the Melbourne Public Library, making it Australia's oldest public library and one of the first free libraries in th ...

to make a complete set of Kelly's armour along with other pieces from

Melbourne Museum The Melbourne Museum is a natural and cultural history museum located in the Carlton Gardens in Melbourne, Australia. Located adjacent to the Royal Exhibition Building, the museum was opened in 2000 as a project of the Government of Victoria, ...

and Scienceworks. In addition, historian Ken Oldis identified some items misidentified as Kelly's which actually belonged to other members of his gang. The museum holds Australia's largest collection of Kelly Gang armour, including the sets of armour worn by gang members Dan Kelly and

Steve Hart Stephen Hart (13 February 1859 – 28 June 1880) was an Australian bushranger, a member of the Kelly gang. Biography In 1877, Hart was convicted of horse theft and illegal use of a horse and sentenced to 12 months hard labour in HM Pris ...

References

External links

Victoria Police Museum website
{{Authority control Museums in Melbourne Law enforcement museums in Australia Victoria Police Buildings and structures in the City of Melbourne (LGA)