Museums in Australia
293 museums in Australia. Most visited: Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Top museums in Australia
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Art museum · 1,303,789 visitors a year
The Art Gallery of New South Wales is a public art gallery in The Domain, Sydney, founded in 1872 with its first public exhibition in 1874. Its collections span Australian art, including Indigenous...
Free entryWestern Australian Museum
971,528 visitors a year
The Western Australian Museum opens a vivid window onto one of the world's most distinctive regions. In Perth, it brings together the stories of land, sea, science, and people, inviting visitors to...
National Gallery of Victoria
Art museum · 801,699 visitors a year
Discover the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Australia’s oldest and most vibrant art museum, nestled in the heart of Melbourne. With its stunning architecture and expansive collection, the NGV...
Free entryQueensland Gallery of Modern Art
Art museum · 635,825 visitors a year
Australia's largest gallery of modern and contemporary art sits on Kurilpa Point beside the Brisbane River. Locals and signs call it GOMA. Opened in 2006 and designed by the Sydney firm Architectus,...
Queensland Art Gallery
Art museum · 546,036 visitors a year
A long indoor water feature, the Water Mall, runs through the centre of the Queensland Art Gallery, linking galleries in Robin Gibson's modernist building beside the Brisbane River. Opened in 1982 as...
National Gallery of Australia
Art museum · 455,558 visitors a year
Discover the vibrant world of art at the National Gallery of Australia, a cultural gem nestled in the heart of Canberra. This remarkable institution houses an extensive collection of over 166,000...
Art Gallery of South Australia
Art museum · 444,577 visitors a year
Tom Roberts' A break away!, a drover struggling to hold back a thirst-maddened flock in drought, is one of the best-known paintings of Australian colonial art, and it hangs on North Terrace in...
Free entryMuseum of Old and New Art
Art museum · 347,000 visitors a year
Sex and death are the central themes of MONA, the largest privately funded museum in the Southern Hemisphere, which its founder David Walsh has described as a "subversive adult Disneyland". It sits...
Art Gallery of Western Australia
Art museum · 195,350 visitors a year
In the heart of Perth's Cultural Centre, the Art Gallery of Western Australia offers a vivid introduction to the art, stories, and landscapes of Western Australia. The gallery feels open and...
Free entry4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art
Art museum
4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, often called simply 4A, focuses on Asian and Asian-Australian contemporary art. From its base in Sydney's Haymarket area, this independent not-for-profit...
ACMI
Music, film or theatre museum
Film, television, videogames, digital culture and art all fall within the remit of ACMI, Australia's national museum of screen culture. Formerly known as the Australian Centre for the Moving Image,...
Adelaide Zoo
Zoo or aquarium
The Southern Hemisphere's largest giant panda centre, opened in December 2009, is the best-known feature of Adelaide Zoo. Founded in 1883, it is Australia's second oldest zoo after Melbourne Zoo. It...
ANZAC Memorial
Military museum
Rayner Hoff's monumental figural reliefs and sculptures cover the exterior of this Art Deco war memorial in Hyde Park South. C. Bruce Dellit designed it, and it was built between 1932 and 1934 as a...
Asian Gallery New South Wales Art Gallery
Art museum
Opened in 2003, the Asian Gallery gives Asian art a dedicated space within the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the most important public gallery in Sydney and one of the largest in Australia. The...
Australian Centre for Photography
Art museum
One of the longest running contemporary art spaces in Australia, the Australian Centre for Photography (ACP) was founded in 1973 as a not-for-profit photography gallery in Darlinghurst, Sydney....
Australian Computer Museum Society
Science and technology museum
Since 1994, members of the Australian Computer Museum Society have built up a large collection of unique computing devices designed and built by Australians. The Sydney-based society preserves the...
Australian Museum
Welcome to the Australian Museum, the oldest museum in Australia, where the wonders of the natural world and cultural heritage come alive! Nestled in the heart of Sydney, this iconic institution...
Australian Music Vault
Music, film or theatre museum
As Australia's first physical hall of fame for music, the Australian Music Vault is a permanent exhibition devoted to past and present Australian contemporary music. It sits within Arts Centre...
Museums by city in Australia
Australia’s museum landscape stretches from major cultural precincts in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth to regional institutions that tell local stories in vivid detail. Visitors can move from the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra to the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, or explore natural history, maritime heritage and social history collections across every state and territory. On Mooseum, it’s easier to compare museums and plan visits around your route.
Art plays a central role in many museum visits here, with strong collections of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art alongside colonial, modern and contemporary works. The National Gallery of Victoria, Queensland Art Gallery and Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, and the Art Gallery of South Australia are key stops, while Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art offers a very different experience in Tasmania. Together, they show how varied Australia’s cultural institutions can be.
Beyond the capital cities, museums across the country reflect Australia’s landscapes and industries, from mining towns and maritime ports to tropical north Queensland and desert communities in the interior. Many institutions place local First Nations knowledge, migration histories, environmental change and scientific research at the center of their displays. Mooseum helps visitors discover these museums, navigate indoor spaces, and fit them into a wider trip across Australia.
Map of museums in Australia
Museums in Australia: questions
- How many museums are there in Australia?
- Mooseum lists 293 museums in Australia. Melbourne has the most, with 35.
- Which cities in Australia have the most museums?
- Melbourne (35), Sydney (27), Perth (13), Adelaide (12) and Brisbane (12).
- What are the most visited museums in Australia?
- By annual visitors reported on Wikipedia: Art Gallery of New South Wales (1,303,789), Western Australian Museum (971,528) and National Gallery of Victoria (801,699).
- What kinds of museums are in Australia?
- Of the 235 whose type we know, the most common are art museums (59), zoos and aquariums (53), transport museums (45) and history museums (22).
- Which museums in Australia are free to visit?
- 4 museums list free general admission on their websites: Art Gallery of New South Wales, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of South Australia and Art Gallery of Western Australia. Special exhibitions can still charge.
- Strong Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander collections, with art, cultural objects and community-led interpretation across major galleries and regional museums
- Major art institutions in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Canberra, covering Australian, Asian, European and contemporary works
- Natural history and science collections featuring fossils, minerals, biodiversity and environmental research, especially in state museums
- Maritime, migration and industrial heritage museums that reflect Australia’s port cities, goldfields, rail history and coastal identity
- Distinctive regional museums in Tasmania, the Northern Territory and inland Australia that connect collections to local landscapes and communities
- Many major public galleries offer free general admission, but special exhibitions often require timed paid tickets, so it’s worth booking ahead.
- Museum hours are usually daytime-focused, and some venues close one day a week or open late on selected evenings in larger cities.
- In Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, public transport is often the easiest way to reach central museums; regional museums may require a car.
- Summer can be hot and busy, especially around school holidays, so indoor museum visits are a good option but popular exhibitions may book out early.
All museums in Australia
Every museum in Australia listed on Mooseum. Search by name or type.
| Name | Type | Website | Links | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|
4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, often called simply 4A, focuses on Asian and Asian-Australian contemporary art. From its base in Sydney's Haymarket area, this independent not-for-profit... | Art museum | www.4a.com.au |  | — |
— | abbeymuseum.com | | — | |
ACMIFilm, television, videogames, digital culture and art all fall within the remit of ACMI, Australia's national museum of screen culture. Formerly known as the Australian Centre for the Moving Image,... | Music, film or theatre museum | www.acmi.net.au | | — |
Memorial museum | www.ahmsec.org.au | | — | |
Adelaide ZooThe Southern Hemisphere's largest giant panda centre, opened in December 2009, is the best-known feature of Adelaide Zoo. Founded in 1883, it is Australia's second oldest zoo after Melbourne Zoo. It... | Zoo or aquarium | www.adelaidezoo.com.au | | — |
Zoo or aquarium | www.village.com.au | | — | |
Zoo or aquarium | www.discoverbundaberg.com.au/alexandra-park-zoo | | — | |
Zoo or aquarium | www.alicespringsdesertpark.com.au | | — | |
Zoo or aquarium | www.reptilecentre.com.au | | — | |
— | www.cheeseworld.com.au/en/Our-Heritage/Museum | | — | |
Art museum | libraries.tas.gov.au/allport/Pages/Allport.aspx | | — | |
Zoo or aquarium | www.almaparkzoo.com.au | | — | |
Zoo or aquarium | www.altinawildlife.com | | — | |
ANZAC MemorialRayner Hoff's monumental figural reliefs and sculptures cover the exterior of this Art Deco war memorial in Hyde Park South. C. Bruce Dellit designed it, and it was built between 1932 and 1934 as a... | Military museum | www.anzacmemorial.nsw.gov.au | | — |
Art museum | araluenartscentre.nt.gov.au | | — | |
Art museum | www.ararat.vic.gov.au/facilities/ararat-gallery-tama | | — | |
Zoo or aquarium | www.armadalereptilecentre.com.au | | — | |
Military museum | armymuseumwa.com.au | | — | |
Art museum | artgalleryofballarat.com.au | | — | |
Art Gallery of New South WalesThe Art Gallery of New South Wales is a public art gallery in The Domain, Sydney, founded in 1872 with its first public exhibition in 1874. Its collections span Australian art, including Indigenous... | Art museum | www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au | | — |
Art Gallery of South AustraliaTom Roberts' A break away!, a drover struggling to hold back a thirst-maddened flock in drought, is one of the best-known paintings of Australian colonial art, and it hangs on North Terrace in... | Art museum | www.agsa.sa.gov.au | | — |
Art Gallery of Western AustraliaIn the heart of Perth's Cultural Centre, the Art Gallery of Western Australia offers a vivid introduction to the art, stories, and landscapes of Western Australia. The gallery feels open and... | Art museum | artgallery.wa.gov.au | | — |
Asian Gallery New South Wales Art GalleryOpened in 2003, the Asian Gallery gives Asian art a dedicated space within the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the most important public gallery in Sydney and one of the largest in Australia. The... | Art museum | www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au | | — |
Zoo or aquarium | www.australiazoo.com.au | | — | |
Natural history museum | australianageofdinosaurs.com | | — |