National Museum of Australia

National Museum of Australia Where our stories come alive. On Ngunnawal, Ngunawal and Ngambri Country. The National Museum of Australia is where our stories come alive.
(1915)

We love using social media to share these stories with the world, and engage with diverse audiences. Please be aware that the Museum’s social media channels may include or use names, images and voices of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Public transport: https://www.transport.act.gov.au/

* Social media community standards *

We aim to keep our social media channels relevant

, engaging and inclusive. We’d like to keep this a pleasant space for everyone, and ask that you are respectful to other members of this community and keep discussions on topic. You are expected to uphold the Museum’s social media community standards, and our moderators apply these standards when monitoring our accounts. We will remove content that is abusive, obscene, discriminatory, disrespectful, inflammatory or offensive. We will remove content that is off-topic, spam or is repetitive posting. We will remove misinformation or misleading information. We will also remove content that is defamatory, breaches copyright, confidentiality and/or moral rights laws. Please notify us if you see something that you feel breaches Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and/or our community standards. Whilst we strive for accuracy, we are human and sometimes make mistakes. If we’ve got something wrong, kindly let us know – we’ll fact-check our content as quickly as possible and correct any errors. You can view our community standards in detail here: bit.ly/34KDEKN

* Queries and account moderation *

This page is monitored and moderated weekdays from 8:30am – 5:30pm (Australian Eastern Daylight Time). During these hours, we aim to respond to relevant queries as quickly as possible and moderate content that does not meet our community standards. Outside of standard moderation hours, responses may take some time. Please free call 1800 026 132 for queries about weekend visits, or refer to our website at www.nma.gov.au. Queries submitted outside of standard operating hours will be reviewed and responded to as quickly as possible during standard business hours. If you have a query about:
- educational research
- our collection
- donating an object to our collection

please email our Duty Curator at [email protected]

04/06/2026

Voyage with us to 1947! 🙌

In the years following WWII, the Australian Government established the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition (ANARE) to manage year-round exploration and research.

Under the leadership of physicist Phillip Law, who was also known as ‘Mr Antarctica’, ANARE established scientific research stations at subantarctic Heard Island in 1947 and Macquarie Island in 1948.

This archival footage from 1947 gives us an exciting glimpse into the first expeditions to Heard Island.

Discover more of Antarctica: https://www.nma.gov.au/antarctica

We love meeting the next generation of brilliant curators!It was wonderful hosting Cameron Gravestock (Noongar) and Kamr...
03/06/2026

We love meeting the next generation of brilliant curators!

It was wonderful hosting Cameron Gravestock (Noongar) and Kamryn Sheppard (Muluridji/ Djabugay) as part of the Emerging Curators Program.

They are artists and cultural practitioners at the Western Australian Museum Boola Bardip.

Their work explores art as a living cultural language across generations. It encourages young people to engage with culture in south-west Western Australia.

During their placement with us, they explored ways of displaying and preserving cultural objects. This will support communities reconnecting with culture through Aboriginal corporations.

Join us on Wednesday 10 June for the Australian of the Year panel conversation: Recognition, voice, change.This powerful...
02/06/2026

Join us on Wednesday 10 June for the Australian of the Year panel conversation: Recognition, voice, change.

This powerful conversation explores how public platforms can amplify voices, create visibility and drive lasting social change.

The panel includes three nationally respected leaders:
Rosie Batty AO – Domestic violence campaigner
Professor Tom Calma AO – First Nations leader and social justice advocate
Virginia Haussegger AM – Journalist and gender equity advocate

In-person and live-streamed tickets available

📅 Wednesday 10 June 2026, 6:30pm to 8pm
🏠 National Museum of Australia or live-streamed

This buoy helps us understand the currents! 🌊It was deployed in the 1970s into WA’s Leeuwin Current, which flows south f...
02/06/2026

This buoy helps us understand the currents! 🌊

It was deployed in the 1970s into WA’s Leeuwin Current, which flows south from the Timor Sea along the coast of Western Australia.

CSIRO oceanographer George Cresswell designed the buoy to study the current, whose warmth allows tropical marine life to survive as far south as Perth. 🪸

The buoy is displayed in our Great Southern Land gallery, alongside a giant clam shell and decorative ceramic dhufish, both linked to this unique environment.

📷: George Cresswell

This remarkable Kimberley Point spearhead was made using glass!In the Kimberley region of Western Australia, there is a ...
30/05/2026

This remarkable Kimberley Point spearhead was made using glass!

In the Kimberley region of Western Australia, there is a long tradition of First Nations stoneworking techniques being adapted to new materials such as glass after European contact.

Objects of great beauty and skill, Kimberley Points were traded throughout the Kimberley and beyond.

More recently, composer and performer Elena Kats-Chernin was inspired by the Kimberley Points on display at the Museum to create music. 🎶

Can you guess these ? They cross and twist in pairs to create something intricate. They are often decorated with beade...
28/05/2026

Can you guess these ?

They cross and twist in pairs to create something intricate.

They are often decorated with beaded spangles to help keep the tension even.

Answer coming Tuesday.

27/05/2026

Let’s explore an astonishing continent. 🙌

For over a century Australia has led the way in mapping Eastern Antarctica.

This 1996 docuseries ‘Breaking the Ice’ takes us back to the 1950s, when the expeditioners based at Mawson station were only just discovering what lay beyond the Framnes Mountains.

Today, surveyors continue to map the surface of the continent, while geologists study the earth beneath the ice, a hidden land of mountain ranges, volcanoes and melt lakes that haven’t seen the sky for millions of years.

Antarctica is a free exhibition, opening to the public on July 1.

Tickets are now live: https://www.nma.gov.au/antarctica

This National Reconciliation Week we're sharing Nugal Warra elder Wanda Gibson's artwork, 'No Blood Will Be Shed'. 'Thi...
27/05/2026

This National Reconciliation Week we're sharing Nugal Warra elder Wanda Gibson's artwork, 'No Blood Will Be Shed'.

'This is an important story as it is the first time reconciliation between Indigenous Australians and Europeans happened' - Wanda

The artwork is from a series by the Gamba Gamba (old ladies) group from the Hopevale Arts and Culture Centre. They depict encounters between their ancestors and the crew of HMS Endeavour.

In 1770 at Waalumbaal Birri (Endeavour River), Guugu Yimidhirr people confronted James Cook’s crew after they broke protocols around catching turtles.

Shots were fired and a Guugu Yimidhirr person was injured. Yet, before the conflict could escalate, an elder intervened by breaking the tip of a spear.

Wanda states, “He was saying in his own language, ‘No blood will be shed here.’”

After WWI, state and federal governments coordinated efforts to build farming communities of returned soldiers and their...
24/05/2026

After WWI, state and federal governments coordinated efforts to build farming communities of returned soldiers and their families.

Officials split large pastoral estates into small farms, envisioning that soldier settlers would build prosperous rural communities 🌾

While the scheme was popular, many servicemen struggled due to a lack of farming knowledge, and the land was often too small to be profitable.

This, combined with falling wheat prices and the Great Depression, led to many settlers walking away from the land.

📷: Children sit on bags of wheat on a soldier settler farm in Western Australia, about 1925, Rob Mawson.

This Reconciliation Week, join us at the National Museum for a celebration of Culture and Country. Inspired by the cultu...
23/05/2026

This Reconciliation Week, join us at the National Museum for a celebration of Culture and Country.

Inspired by the cultural arts exhibition, 'From Little Things, Big Things GROW: From Nambour to Canberra', the program honours the vibrant First Nations community project led by Gunggari and Kamilaroi Elder Aunty Jude Hammond.

🌱 Explore the pop-up exhibition
🎵 Enjoy live performances
🎟️ Take part in a coolamon-making workshop with Aunty Jude.

Attendance to the exhibition and all live performances are free.

The Coolamon Cultural Workshop is $35 for general admission, $30 concession, $25 for Museum Friends and $20 for Community.

Address

Lawson Crescent, Acton
Canberra, ACT
2601

Opening Hours

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Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm
Sunday 9am - 5pm

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