Museums Victoria

Museums Victoria

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Museums Victoria is Australia's largest public museum organisation. www.museumsvictoria.com.au

Museums Victoria has been creating knowledge, entertaining visitors and building the State Collection since 1854. The collection is an invaluable record of Victoria’s environmental and cultural history, and our amazing wealth of objects has been inspiring a sense of wonder and awe in visitors for generations. We have been part of the lives and experiences of Victorians for more than 150 years. Ove

01/06/2026

Explore the history and opulence of a Melbourne architecture icon on a Royal Exhibition Building Dome Promenade Tour.

Wander through the halls of the building before climbing up to the Dome Promenade to experience stunning 360-degree views.

Limited tours available in June.
🎟️ Book now 👉 https://brnw.ch/21x2ZeY

Creative Victoria

01/06/2026

New Exhibition at Immigration Museum coming next week! ⚽

Home is Football...is connection, community, belonging...

Step onto the pitch with Immigration Museum’s newest community exhibition, Home is Football: Belonging in Australian Soccer.

Discover the stories of nine players and explore how football continues to shape culture, community and identity for Australians from all walks of life.

Plus, enjoy behind-the-scenes insight with exclusive gallery talks across the opening weekend, led by museum experts.

⚽ Opening Saturday 13 June.

🎟️ Included in general museum entry. Book here: https://brnw.ch/21x2Z09

🗣️ Gallery Talks: 11am and 1pm Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 June.
Home is Football has been produced with support from Melbourne Victory and Professional Footballers Australia.

Creative Victoria.

Image Credit: Nazia Ali, Afghan Women’s Team v. Melvern City, Melbourne, 2021. Source: © Melbourne Victory. Photographer: Alex Pavlidis.

Polar Realms: Tim Jarvis in Conversation 28/05/2026

From Antarctica to the Arctic, the planet’s icy frontiers are changing before our eyes 🌎🧊

Join polar explorer and Museums Victoria’s Joanna Sumner for a fascinating conversation exploring melting ice, shifting ecosystems, and what Earth’s polar regions can reveal about our climate past and future.

Presented as part of World Environment Day and Our Wondrous Planet, this is your chance to hear firsthand stories from some of the coldest and most rapidly changing places on Earth.

Seats are limited, book now.

🗓️ Wednesday 3 June
🕖 7–8pm
📍 Melbourne Museum
🎟️ Book tickets: https://brnw.ch/21x2SL4

Polar Realms: Tim Jarvis in Conversation

27/05/2026

Today is World Otter Day, and one of our most famous collection items is celebrating in his own very serious way.

“Sad Otter” has been part of the Museums Victoria collection since 1884, long before he became an internet icon. Despite popular belief, it’s not bad taxidermy that gives him his mournful expression — his downturned mouth is completely natural and anatomically correct.

Great otters are playful, social and highly intelligent animals, but they’re also endangered due to habitat loss and poaching. Fewer than 5000 remain in the wild, with Suriname now considered one of the species’ last strongholds.

You can learn more about Sad Otter via our Museums Collections Online or stop by the museum and say hello, within the Research Institute Gallery at Melbourne Museum.

https://brnw.ch/21x2QX6

27/05/2026

Sad Otter has been part of the Museums Victoria collection since 1884, but long before he became an internet icon, he was simply… a naturally sad-looking otter. 🦦

Despite the downturned mouth, there’s nothing “bad” about the taxidermy. Great otters really do have this expression! In reality, otters are playful, social and endlessly curious creatures.

Happy World Otter Day to our most misunderstood museum celebrity.

24/05/2026

Discover the story of Yo Soy Collective and Melbourne’s Latinx community of nearly 48,000. This film invites you into their homes and dinner tables to explore the power of gathering, creativity, and cultural connection. A celebration of community, resilience, and shared identity you won’t want to miss.

🎥 Culture Makers: Season Four
🕛 Open daily 9am to 5pm
📍 Melbourne Museum, Melbourne story
🔗 https://brnw.ch/21x2M5I

Culture Makers has been made possible thanks to the generous support of The Scanlon Foundation.

23/05/2026

What do turtles eat? Do they fart? And why the long neck? 🐢💭

For World Turtle Day, we’re celebrating the curious minds asking the important questions after meeting the turtles who call Milarri Gardens home. From fascinating facts to unforgettable encounters, there’s always something new to discover 🌿

21/05/2026

Big savings have landed at Museums Victoria Store ✨

Enjoy 30% off selected products across homewares, adult and kids’ apparel, games and books. Perfect for gifting, learning or treating yourself.

Shop online or visit us in-store at Melbourne Museum before your favourites sell out. T&Cs apply.

19/05/2026

From Antarctica to the Arctic, the planet’s frozen frontiers are changing before our eyes 🌎🧊

Join polar explorer Tim Jarvis and Museums Victoria’s Joanna Sumner for an evening of stories, science and discovery as they explore the powerful role ice plays in shaping our world.

Presented as part of World Environment Day and Our Wondrous Planet, this thought-provoking conversation will uncover melting ice, changing ecosystems, Earth’s climate history, and what these shifts could mean for our future.

🗓️ Wednesday 3 June
🕛 7–8pm
📍 Melbourne Museum🎟️ Tickets: https://brnw.ch/21x2BSl

Creative Victoria

Centuries of stars: The history of astronomical visualisation in and out of museum collections 19/05/2026

The projection planetarium is a remarkable tool for visualising astronomy. Yet it is only one in a long history of such technologies, including magic lantern slides and the devices of the stage astronomy tradition, such as the Eidouranion. The presences and absences of these technologies within institutional collections show surprising continuities in the history of astronomical communication.

The visual turn in history has prompted us to look at these collections in new ways in order to recover these practices in a manner that can illuminate contemporary interests. In this article I reflect upon the centuries-long history of astronomical visualisation and my personal intersections with it as a scholar and science communicator.

Read Martin Bush's article: Centuries of stars: The history of astronomical visualisation in and out of museum collections, in volume 1 of PRISM.

Centuries of stars: The history of astronomical visualisation in and out of museum collections The projection planetarium is a remarkable tool for visualising astronomy. Yet it is only one in a long history of such technologies, including magic lantern slides and the devices of the stage astronomy tradition, such as the Eidouranion. The presences and absences of these technologies within inst...

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11 Nicholson Street
Carlton, VIC
3053