History:
Subtopics
Victoria's bushfire history preserved in online memorial map
Take a virtual visit to some of the state's bushfire memorials to reflect and commemorate.
Kodak Snapshots
A snapshot into the 120 year history of Kodak manufacturing in Australia, told through Museum Victoria's collection.
Anne Bermingham, a scientific pioneer of radiocarbon dating
Meet the woman who started Australia’s first radiocarbon dating lab.
Sylvia Whincup, a prolific collector and groundbreaking mineralogist
Sylvia amassed a collection of thousands of specimens and 167 new species.
One Year On
One Year On – Stories of COVID-19 in Melbourne's Suburbs is a digital display that brings together a snapshot of stories collected across the suburbs of Melbourne in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wartime stories from the Royal Exhibition Building
During World War II, the Royal Exhibition Building was occupied by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).
An underground affair
An anti-Vietnam war love story.
Uncovering the Exhibition Building's secret WWII stories
Untold war stories revealed.
Burlesque dancing and basket weaving: the incredible life of Aunty Veronica Barnett
Step into the adventurous past of one of the Melbourne Museum's public faces.
The trials and triumphs of a trailblazing scientist
Hope Macpherson was a woman who broke barriers.
Origins
What are your origins? Where have Victorians come from? Why did they come? This website presents government census information on Victorian communities from 85 countries of origin.
CSIRAC - the world's oldest intact first-generation electronic computer
When it was built CSIRAC was at the cutting edge of the new field of computing.
Pumping Station
The fascinating story of one of Australia's most important industrial heritage sites.
Backyard ballistics: Australia's first DIY satellite
A DIY guide to reaching outer space.
Great Melbourne Telescope
Great Melbourne Telescope project website. The goal is to restore the telescope to working order so that it may be used for educational and public viewing.
Marvellous Melbourne
Melbourne is a young city by world standards, but it has layers of history. Discover how each era shaped the city we see today.
A Wurundjeri First Peoples coming of age ceremony revived
Meet the Djirri Djirri Wurundjeri Women's Dance Group, who are reconnecting to their cultural heritage and bringing the younger generations with them.
The timeless and living art of possum skin cloaks
The First Peoples of south-eastern Australia have been making possum skin cloaks since time immemorial—today the practice is flourishing.
First Peoples
First Peoples tells the story of Aboriginal Victoria from the time of Creation to today. Explore the galleries within Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre.
Indigenous Protest, Australian Bicentenary, 1988
In 1988, the year of Australia's bicentenary, Indigenous peoples from across the nation converged on Sydney to protest the so-called "celebration of a nation".
Discover Documentary: Pendle Hall
Join Michael Reason, Curator of History and Technology as he takes us on a tour of a piece of prime real estate in miniature, Pendle Hall.
Discover Documentary: Conservation
From wedding dresses to meteorites, our Conservation team protect and preserve over 15 million objects in Museums Victoria's collection. This episode of Discover takes a look at how they do it!
Fusion, feminism and food
Flavours that flipped Australian kitchens.
Our addiction to plastic
Lifting the lid on plastic: the good, the bad and the ugly.
Vaccines: saving millions one dose at a time
How the history of vaccine development shaped our ability to respond to worldwide pandemics.
Immigrant Stories
Everyone who immigrates has their own unique story to tell. Explore these stories – why they came, where they settled and how they made Victoria their new home.
Journeys to Australia
Immigration is a vital feature of Australia's history and national identity. Celebrate the journeys that changed Australia forever.
Customs House
Home of the Immigration Museum, explore the rich history of one of Melbourne's most important 19th century public buildings.
The Plants of Milarri Garden
Milarri Garden, located within Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre, is planted with native flora significant to the Aboriginal people of south-eastern Australia.
Invisible Farmer
The largest ever study of Australian women on the land is revealing the hidden stories of women farmers.
History starts today
A new collection of banners from the 2017 Women's March on Melbourne has important historical links.
Rare scene of first European contact
Provenance of carved boomerang uncovered.
The art of the diorama
An overview of a classic type of museum display.
HV McKay crate
Lid lifted on mystery artefact.
The Lloyd Triestino Trio
What was the Lloyd Triestino Trio?
Australia Day
What is the history of our national holiday?
Our first Director's vision for a University Botanical Garden
How Melbourne University's System Garden came to be.
A treasure trove of freshwater fish biodiversity
The Kimberley region in Australia’s northwest is one our last great pristine unspoilt places, and a hotspot for species discovery.
A pathway for First Nations identity and meaning in the GLAM sector
In April this year the Honourable Princess Salote Maumautaimi Tuku’aho of Tonga visited Melbourne Museum's First Peoples and Te Pasifika exhibitions.
Audio-Visual Material in the Kodak Heritage Collection at Museums Victoria
This audio-visual material in the Kodak collection is evocative and valuable in the study of Kodak’s history.
Fashion Redux at Melbourne Museum
Major fashion names used the Museums State Collection, in collaboration with Melbourne Fashion Festival, to create a completely unique look.
The sting of the final letter
Transcribing George Lyell's final documents.
The journey to Station Pier
Melbourne’s heritage-listed Station Pier was Victoria’s most important arrival point for migrants. Find out why it plays such an important part in Melbourne’s migration history.
The 700
More than 700 individuals whose combined efforts, starting in 1984, have brought to light fossils in what has been dubbed by one of them “The Dinosaur Dreaming Project”.
Fall of the Berlin Wall
Dr Rolf Schmidt on witnessing history unfold.
On the wing
Professor Deirdre Coleman, Nik McGrath and Simon Hinkley join Richelle Hunt in the ABC Radio Melbourne Studio.
10 peculiar and splendid masks
Masks might come to symbolise 2020. But they have a rich and often strange history.
10 treasures of Aussie Rules
And what they say about us.
The hidden history of Aboriginal stockwoman
As told by a Koa stockwoman, mother and doctor of philosophy.
The Pizzini women and their ‘souls of steel’
How three generations of strong women helped build a wine and tourism dynasty
The resilience of Sallie Jones
The Victorian dairy farmer overcoming family tragedy, bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bright spots in dark times
Pork farm prospers amid COVID-19 lockdowns.
Wild goodbyes
We've been blown away by the number of people who have reached out to us about Wild—here are some answers to your most often asked questions.
Fusipala: a Tongan princess, a costume and a community that keeps her memory alive
Who was the princess behind the costume?
Learning from Australia's bushfire past
Take a closer look at the Victorian Bushfires Collection.
Resurrected: native Australian mouse back from extinction
Once lost, now found.
The doyenne of dinosaur discovery
Melissa Lowery has a rare talent for finding dinosaurs.
Flight of fashion: when feathers were worth twice their weight in gold
The high price of feathered hats in the 1800s.
A discovery of stitches: needlework and 19th century girlhood
What can needlework samplers tell us about often forgotten figures from history?
A Lord of the Rings-like marine landscape revealed in Australia’s Christmas Island Territory
Take a dive into a Lord of the Rings-inspired seascape.
Not what they seem: museum models made from unusual materials
Mini mega creations that need some special care.
10 really big things in the Museums Victoria State Collection
With millions of objects to choose from, what are the some of the biggest things?
Unboxing the museum: Mirka Mora Collection
Mirka Mora was all about being herself, her fashion style, her artistic practice, her friendships and creative circles, and her food culture.
The chance discovery of one of Victoria’s oldest fossil plants, 400 million years in the making
A series of unlikely events that led to the discovery of a 400-million-year-old fossil, shedding new light on the evolution of Australian plants.
If books could kill: poison, heavy metal and literature
Poisonous books are a legacy of fashion and industrial practices that prioritised beauty above all else. And the heavy metals left behind are still causing headaches for libraries and museums to this day.
Unboxing the museum: Ye Olde Xmas Program
Have you every wondered what Christmas in Melbourne was like in the 19th century.
Jan Watson: diving into the unknown
One of Australia’s first scientific divers, Dr Jan Watson used her tenacity, skill, and passion to realise her underwater ambitions.
Isabel Cookson: one tough ‘Cookie’
One of Australia’s first professional female scientists, Isabel Cookson was a ground-breaking palaeobotanist.
Forbidden objects in the museum's collection
What do a doll, religious text, gun, and surprised-looking cat have in common?
Rhyll Plant: sowing the seeds of scientific art
Half a century as a scientific artist has taken Rhyll Plant to some unexpected places, but where did it all begin?
Scienceworks is 30!
Jump on board for a look back at Scienceworks’ past, and some secrets, as we celebrate its 30th birthday.
Steam power is not just a relic of the past
Considered by some to be an old and outdated technology, steam is still used widely in the 21st century.
A piece of Neighbours history that really takes the cake
Not just a legacy of Neighbours’ most famous episode, Scott and Charlene’s wedding cake has many layers of history.
This small rock holds the story of Antarctic exploration before the Heroic Age
Discover the rock that unlocked one of the biggest mysteries of Antarctica and the incredible story of Carsten Borchgrevink, the explorer determined to get there first.
The electric vehicle future was promised decades ago, what happened?
Once lost from history, the electric vehicle's time has come again.
How poo shapes a city (and other scatalogical stories)
What do Melbourne’s laneways, the Spotswood Pumping Station at Scienceworks, and termite mounds all have in common?
A glimpse into the past, to enlighten the future of biodiversity on Earth
What can we learn from the first scientific descriptions of animals and the Earth’s biodiversity, written hundreds of years ago?
How much has cycling changed over the last 100 years?
Does the cycling equipment and advice of an Australian champion, like Hubert Opperman, stand the test of time?
Significant Mi'kmaq regalia crosses oceans and time to return home after 150 years in Melbourne
A unique regalia from Canada has finally returned home, in a major international repatriation from Museums Victoria’s collection.
This briefcase holds tiny art with big meaning
An artistic collaboration with refugees and asylum seekers, Attaché Case challenges Australia’s controversial migration policy.
Deaccessioning: Why do museums remove objects from collections?
The public collections found in museums across the world are a historic record. But that does not mean everything stays there forever.
These pieces of atomic glass are the remnants of the first nuclear bombs
Forged in the fury of nuclear explosions, like Oppenheimer’s Trinity test and British bombs at Maralinga, atomic glass is more than a curio in museum collections.
A man and his rare Indian motorcycle, reunited
91-year-old Don Parkinson revisits the 1923 Indian Scout motorcycle he restored more than 40 years ago.
Unravelling the tale of Melbourne's mystery Chinese dragon
Solving the mystery of Melbourne’s forgotten Chinese dragon with a dusty 120-year-old head, a rare photograph, and a determined historian.
神秘传说：墨尔本的中国龙
一位锲而不舍的历史学家，靠一个积满灰尘，120之久的龙头和一张罕见的照片，解开了墨尔本尘封已久的“联邦龙”之谜。
Tìm lời giải cho câu chuyện về con rồng Trung Hoa bí ẩn của Melbourne
Với cái đầu rồng phủ bụi và bức ảnh hiếm, nhà sử học quyết tâm giải đáp bí ẩn về con rồng Liên bang bị lãng quên của Melbourne.
The surprisingly Australian history of Chinese dragon parades
Some of Australia’s Federation-era dragons are among the oldest surviving imperial dragons in the world.
Celebrating 170 years of Museums Victoria
Explore significant collection objects over the last 170 years of the museum’s history.
Could this tinderbox really have belonged to explorers Burke and Wills?
How do you verify an object that was discarded 160 years ago?
A new chapter for Mary Anning’s ‘lost’ book
A rare book, that once belonged to Mary Anning, has returned to its rightful home in England.
Baradine Repatriation of Carved Tree (Dendroglyph)
Carved burial tree returned to traditional owners.
Birthday honours: 21 of our favourite things about the Melbourne Museum
Fascinating facts about Melbourne’s favourite museum.
Basket, Binak, Healesville, Port Phillip, Victoria, Australia
Coiled basket, or binak, with oval base, possibly purchased from Coranderrk Aboriginal Station circa 1870s-1880s.
Football jumper - Nicky Winmar, St Kilda, 1993
St Kilda Football Club jumper worn by Nicky Winmar during his celebrated stand against racism in sport in 1993.
Melbourne's Biggest Family Album collection
In 2006 over 1000 favourite photographs of Melbourne were collected from Melburnians' private albums.
Phar Lap collection
Over 350 items of racing equipment and memorabilia relating to champion racehorse Phar Lap.
The Federation Tapestry
Almost 41m long and 20,000 hours in the making, the tapestry marks the centenary of Australia's Federation.
Melbourne Observatory collection
Over 400 objects and images relating to the operation of Melbourne Observatory from 1863 to 1944.
Stool, Papua New Guinea
A stool made from a single piece of wood with a standing figure forming the back.
Maori Feather cloak
Kahuhuruhuru is the name for this type of cloak made of fine fibres made from flax or whitau.
Diprotodon tooth
A tooth fossil showing markings which appear to be man-made.