Museums Victoria

Museums Victoria is a comprehensive cultural organization in Melbourne that brings several major institutions together under one umbrella. The group includes the Melbourne Museum, the Immigration Museum, the science center Scienceworks, IMAX Melbourne, and the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Royal Exhibition Building. The organization's history goes back to 1854, when the Museum of Natural and Economic Geology was founded. Over the decades, it went through various restructurings and name changes before being established in its current form as Museums Victoria in 1983. Today it is one of the most important tourist attractions in the state of Victoria and welcomes millions of visitors every year.

At the heart of the organization is an immense collection of more than 15 million objects, built up and cared for over nearly two centuries. The holdings span geology, paleontology, zoology, technology, and history, as well as cultural artifacts of Australia's Indigenous peoples and the Pacific Islands. The collections are not only of historical value but also serve as an essential foundation for scientific research, particularly in the areas of biodiversity and environmental protection. The offering is rounded out by a valuable library that houses some of the rarest scientific monographs and journals of the 18th and 19th centuries. Since 2022, the Museums Victoria Research Institute has also been promoting interdisciplinary studies on the major challenges of our time.

A distinctive feature of Museums Victoria is its close collaboration with First Peoples. The living cultures, stories, and traditions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are at the center of the exhibitions and educational programs. Together with Elders and community members, the organization works to return cultural material and knowledge to their home regions and to connect contemporary visitors with a heritage that is thousands of years old. In addition to its physical exhibitions, Museums Victoria offers digital platforms and educational programs aimed particularly at early childhood and the promotion of STEM skills, making knowledge about the natural and cultural history of Australasia accessible to a broad audience.