Australian Museum
The Australian Museum is the oldest museum in Australia and also the oldest natural history museum in the world. It is one of the most important institutions of its kind and internationally recognized for its research in the fields of natural history and anthropology . The exhibitions show exhibits from the fields of zoology ( vertebrates and invertebrates ), mineralogy , paleontology and anthropology . In addition, the museum's research and exhibits focus on Aboriginal history and culture .
The museum is located in the City of Sydney , on College Street, in close proximity to Sydney's Hyde Park.
history
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The Australian Museum was founded on March 30, 1827 under the name The Colonial Museum by Earl Bathurst , then Secretary of State for the Colonies . However, it was renamed The Australian Museum as early as June 1836 and has continued under that name ever since.
Intentions to found a natural history-ethnographic museum go back to the year 1821 and were promoted by the then Philosophical Society of Australasia , which however was dissolved a year later, in 1822. Another important step in the museum's efforts came in 1826 with the arrival of the entomologist Alexander Macleay , who was also a member of the Linnean Society of London . Macleay was the first permanently employed zoologist in Australia by the Chief Secretary of New South Wales , who henceforth pushed for the establishment of a natural history museum.
The museum initially moved into a room in the Colonial Secretary's building, moving several times over the next 30 years. In 1849 it finally moved to its present location in the heart of Sydney , in a sandstone building on the corner of Park and College Street, directly across from Hyde Park. It was opened to the public in May 1857. The building was designed by the then New South Wales Colonial Architect James Barnet . The first director, William Holmes, was appointed on June 16, 1829.
Until June 1836, the museum was directly under the administration of the colonial administration , then the newly founded committee for the administration of the Australian Museum and the Botanical Garden , the so-called Committee of Superintendence of the Australian Museum and Botanical Garden . Members of this committee were recognized and leading figures of the city's political and scientific society. The committee was dissolved in 1853. It was replaced by the Australian Museum Trust ( The board of the Trustees ), newly established by law ( Australian Museum Act ), which consisted of 24 members. William Sharp Macleay , the former chairman of the above mentioned committee, continued his work as chairman of this trust (as committee chairman ).
The first curator of the Australian Museum was the noted naturalist George Bennett . He was hired in 1835 and began taking inventory of museum collections. After his retirement in 1841, this role was continued by WB Clarke until 1843 and then by William Sheridan Wall . In the first few years of its existence, the museum exchanged exhibits with other European, mainly English institutions.
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Coordinates: 33 ° 52 ′ 27.4 ″ S , 151 ° 12 ′ 45.5 ″ O