Master Plan

We live in a dynamic, technology-driven landscape where knowledge is the new currency – a world in which a museum of the future challenges, empowers and leads its publics. The National Museum of Australia is committed to telling the nation’s story in all its variation and richness.

The National Museum believes that Australian experience is an important part of the global storytelling of the human condition, and it is intent on engaging all Australians and overseas visitors in everything it does. There has never been a time when the expression and representation of the nation’s history and ideas has been more important.

The Museum’s Master Plan to 2030 delivers an inspired vision for the 21st century and beyond – a national museum at the crossroads of material and digital realms, embracing both. An ambitious institution with twice the exhibition space and twice the national reach. An institution that showcases its collection alongside the country’s most compelling and creative digital assets and experiences. An institution at the core of the emerging knowledge economy.

Key elements of the Master Plan envisage a Museum in 2030 which:

• takes the Australian story into cities and regional areas across the nation through its travelling exhibitions, Defining Moments schools programs and online platforms to ensure everyone has access to our history and culture, wherever they are;
• has doubled and re-imagined its current exhibition space in Canberra to bring the National Historical Collection alive in networked, participatory public galleries that merge real and virtual worlds;
• leads innovation in new experiential technologies through an Australian-first incubator/accelerator program for emerging digital business enterprises, in collaboration with other national institutions;
• showcases the Australian narrative through its international touring program linked to Tourism Australia and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade initiatives, with special emphasis on the Asia–Pacific;
• enhances commercial operations to raise additional own source income and develops collaborative partnerships with public and private interests to maximise resources;
• provides public access to world-class collection storage and conservation facilities that take people behind the scenes of the Museum’s work to develop and protect the nation’s heritage; and
• enables national institutions to share services and facilities, and maximise the value of Commonwealth resources, through collaboration and joint endeavours.