Vision
To be a trusted voice in the national conversation, and recognised as one of Australia’s premier cultural destinations exploring Australia’s past, illuminating the present and imagining the future.
Mission
The Museum’s mission is to bring the world’s cultures to Australia and present Australia’s history and culture to the world. In pursuit of this goal, the Museum has developed its ambitious Master Plan 2017–2030.
Values
In every part of what we do we will demonstrate excellence, respect, integrity, courage and resilience.
Purpose
The Museum was established to develop and maintain the National Historical Collection for the benefit of the nation, and to bring to life the rich and diverse stories of Australia. Central to the Museum’s role as a national institution is its focus on meaningful engagement with all Australians in the telling of their stories, and its commitment to the history and cultures of the First Australians. The Museum achieves this by caring for and strengthening the collection, and by sharing the stories of Australia’s people and places, and its social and natural environment, with national and international audiences. The Museum tells the comprehensive story of Australia from deep time to the present day.
Key streams of endeavour
According to the Museum’s Strategic Plan 2018–2022, the Museum will focus over the next four years on five key streams of endeavour, guided by its purpose and vision, and consistent with its values and strategic commitments. The five key streams are:
Collections for the 21st century
- Developing, maintaining and displaying the richness of its collections for all Australians to access, explore and treasure.
- Building connections between objects, memory, imagination and lived experience — across cultures, across communities and across time.
Program directions
- Putting the audience at the centre of everything we do.
- Embedding a culture of discovery, delight, inquiry and authority, where contemporary Australia can be understood in relation to its past and its future.
Digital futures
- Embracing technological change across all aspects of our business.
- Positioning ourselves as an institution at the core of the emerging knowledge economy.
Growing our business
- Strengthening our resource base and embracing opportunities for growth and diversification.
- Developing resilience and flexibility in our workforce to quickly adapt and respond to changing environments and demands.
Brand recognition
- Being at the forefront of cultural life in the country, where all Australians can find their stories in our place, and our place in their stories.
- Becoming a recognised world-class museum, renowned for telling the remarkable story of our nation, from the ancient and enduring histories of the world’s oldest living cultures to the making of contemporary Australia.
History
Although it is one of Australia’s newest cultural institutions, the National Museum of Australia was almost 100 years in the making. Over the course of the 20th century, proposals for a national museum were intermittent and interrupted by wars, financial crises and changing government priorities.
A national inquiry in 1975 (the ‘Pigott Report’) resulted in the creation of the Museum with the passing of the National Museum of Australia Act 1980 (the Museum Act). Collecting officially began with the inheritance of significant collections from Australian Government agencies, including the Australian Institute of Anatomy. A location for the Museum was identified at Yarramundi Reach, Canberra.
In December 1996, the building of the Museum was announced as the key Centenary of Federation project, and Acton Peninsula was chosen as the site, with funding confirmed in 1997. The Museum opened on 11 March 2001. It is home to the National Historical Collection and is one of the nation’s major cultural institutions.
The Museum’s exhibitions, collections, programs and research focus on three interrelated subject areas, which are specified in the Museum Act:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and culture
- Australian history and society since 1788
- the interaction of people with the environment.
These define the Museum’s intellectual and conceptual framework, which is articulated to the public through the themes of land, nation and people.
External influences
The Museum operates in an environment influenced by changing technological, social, economic and environmental contexts.
Technological
- Museums are constantly being challenged to deliver programs and exhibitions in ways that embrace new technologies to meet or exceed audience expectations. Emerging technologies offer the opportunity to tell the stories of Australia in innovative ways, and provide immediate and interactive access to collections, exhibitions and programs.
- The Museum encourages active engagement with its stories and collections through digital and social media platforms, and is pursuing new forms of audience participation and engagement through its gallery development program and proposed infrastructure projects as set out in its Master Plan.
Social
- The Museum’s visitor base is continually evolving, and is impacted by changes in demography and the tourism market.
- Changing patterns of social and cultural life, including new modes of accessing information and experiences, will continue to influence the Museum’s operations.
- The Museum strives to provide public access to world-class collection storage and conservation facilities and to make its collections and programs available in multiple formats, and recognises that, to serve the interests of the Australian public, it must reach remote and regional audiences who may otherwise be unable to visit the nation’s capital.
Economic
- The Museum is focused on developing sustainable funding models and growing and diversifying its revenue streams.
- Budgetary constraints necessitate pursuing mutually beneficial partnerships and collaborations with other cultural institutions, as well as private sector and philanthropic support. Through these cooperative endeavours the Museum and other national institutions will be able to share services and facilities and maximise the value of Commonwealth resources.
Environmental
- One of the key challenges is to continue to provide optimal conditions for physical storage of the Museum’s collections. The Museum’s infrastructure needs to be maintained and reviewed in order to meet international best practice standards for acquiring, managing and caring for collections.