July 2015: David Jones is appointed Chair of the Museum’s Council.
July 2015: The Home Front: Australia during the First World War closes at Acton. [01]
July 2015: Singapore’s National Heritage Board signs a five-year memorandum of understanding to pave the way for exhibition and loan exchanges.
August 2015: New exhibition Kaninjaku: Stories from the Canning Stock Route, opens in the First Australians Focus Gallery. [02]
September 2015: Indigenous Australia: Enduring Civilisation closes in London. [03]
October 2015: The Museum’s Model T-Ford truck, used to promote Aeroplane Jelly, goes on display at Canberra Airport. [04]
October 2015: Horace the Baker’s Horse, by acclaimed children’s author Jackie French, is published by the Museum. [05]
November 2015: The Museum purchases a 1928 catalogue documenting the sale of champion racehorse Phar Lap. [06]
November 2015: The Museum and The Prince’s Charities Australia announce the Indigenous Cultural Workers Scholarships program during a visit to the Museum by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. [07]
November 2015: Australian of the Year and campaigner against family violence Rosie Batty shares her story in a conversation with ABC presenter Sarah Ferguson for Radio National program Big Ideas.
November 2015: Encounters: Revealing Stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Objects from the British Museum is launched. [08]
December 2015: The finalists for the 2016 Australian of the Year Awards are celebrated in an exhibition in the Main Hall. [09]
January 2016: On 26 January, thousands flock to the Museum for the Australia Day festival and Museum staff directly reply to more than 1000 tweets during the Australia Day Your Way campaign with Twitter. [10]
February 2016: The Museum acquires Chris the Sheep’s record-breaking fleece and opens a display in partnership with the RSPCA. [11]
March 2016: Major conference, New Encounters: Communities, Collections and Museums, held in conjunction with the Encounters exhibition. [12]
March 2016: ABC presenter Geraldine Doogue hosts a panel discussion at the Museum, ‘New Encounters’. [13]
April 2016: A total of 861 children drew on their ‘inner architect’ to design their own Museum in a school holiday program inspired by the Museum’s architecture.
May 2016: Happy Birthday Play School, an exhibition celebrating 50 years of Australia’s favourite homegrown children’s show, is launched by Minister for the Arts, Senator the Hon Mitch Fifield. [14]
May 2016: The Museum wins several awards in the Museums and Galleries National Awards (MAGNA): Best Major Temporary Exhibition and Best Museum Project Overall for Encounters; and the Interpretation, Learning and Audience Engagement award for Kspace. The Museum is also awarded the ICOM Australia Award 2016 for its collaborative international projects with the British Museum. [15]
May 2016: Kspace wins a silver MUSE Award in the Multimedia Installations category at the 2016 American Alliance of Museums Annual Meeting.
May 2016: The Museum purchases an early watercolour painting by Albert Namatjira.
June 2016: An exhibition of paintings from the Museum’s Canning Stock Route collection goes on display at the National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan. [16]
June 2016: Museum hosts a talk by legendary Singaporean news cameraman Willie Phua and launches a display focusing on his work, in partnership with the National Museum of Singapore. [17]