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 leading institutions of its kind, internationally recognized for his 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, research and exhibitions of the museum dealing with the history and culture of the Aborigines.

The museum is located in the City of Sydney, College Street, in close proximity of Sydney's Hyde Park.

History

The Australian Museum was first established on March 30, 1827 under the name of The Colonial Museum by Earl Bathurst, the then Secretary of State for the Colonies. However, it was renamed in June 1836 in The Australian Museum, and is continuing since under this name.

Intentions to establish a natural historical- ethnographic museum date back to the year 1821 and were driven forward by the former Philosophical Society of Australasia, which, however, a year later, in 1822, was dissolved. Another important step in the effort to establish a museum, took place in 1826 with the arrival of Alexander Macleay entomologists, who is also been a member of the Linnean Society of London. Macleay was the first salaried by the Chief Secretary of New South Wales in Australia zoologist, who urged henceforth on the establishment of a natural history museum.

First, the museum moved into a room in the building of the Colonial Secretary to switch over the next 30 years several times its location. Finally, in 1849 it moved to its current location in the heart of Sydney, in a sandstone building at the corner of Park and College Street, directly opposite Hyde Park. For the public, it was available 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 under the direct management of the colonial administration, then the newly formed committee for managing the Australian Museum and the Botanical Gardens, the so-called Committee of Superintendence of the Australian Museum and Botanical Gardens. Members of this committee were recognized and leading figures from the political and scientific society of the city. The committee was disbanded in 1853. In its place the by law ( Australian Museum Act ) joined newly founded Australian Museum Trust (The board of the Trustees ), which consisted of 24 members. William Sharp Macleay, the former chairman of the above committee, continued his work as chairman of this TRUSTe (as committee chairman ).

The first curator of the Australian Museum was the famous naturalist George Bennett. He was hired in 1835 and started the inventory of museum collections. After retiring in 1841, this task of WB was Clarke to 1843 and then continued by William Sheridan Wall. In the first years of its existence, the museum exhibits exchanged with other European, especially English institutions.