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At the heart of the National Museum of Australia is our National Historical Collection, more than 210,000 objects which represent Australia’s history and cultural heritage.

The collection helps us to build connections between objects, memory, imagination and lived experience – across cultures, communities and time.

Explore our collection

Collection highlights Take a deep dive and learn more about some of our most interesting objects.
Collection Explorer Search our online database for collection records and images.
About our collection Learn about the history of our collection, our acquisitions, policies and donations.

Our Collection Explorer is under development and not optimised for mobile devices. Please email collectionsearch@nma.gov.au if you need help searching our collection.

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Mr Squiggle and Friends – the Norman Hetherington collection

The beloved children’s television puppet Mr Squiggle, and his friends Blackboard, Rocket, Bill Steamshovel and Gus the Snail, have landed in Canberra after being acquired by the National Museum of Australia.

Trevor Kennedy Collection

Discover stunning artworks, furniture, jewellery and ceramics – part of the Museum’s largest and most significant acquisition to date.

Banner image: Glass eyes in box (detail), made by Paul McClarin. National Museum of Australia

Collection Explorer image: Yumari, 1981, Uta Uta Tjangala, Papunya, Central Australia, painting on linen, 367 x 227 cm. National Museum of Australia

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