Lee D.

Well it is a museum and gallery day... Quality/Quantity - One of my favorite Australian Museums; nature, science, and culture. From the exterior architecture to all the exhibits inside. The museum is known for: Australian animals, first nations gallery, dinosaurs and the westpac long gallery (Australia's 100 most influential people). Interactive rooms, but closed today. Not sure if they are for school/classes, etc...? 4th floor Bistro coming, see picture. It is probably open now. Events available, see website. Atmosphere - Huge museum, 7 floors. Well 4 floors and 3 underground floors. Looking forward to the bistro opening and having a rooftop view. Working on an expansion to make it more kid friendly. Small gift shop. Busy coffee cafe. Open 7 days a week from 10am to 5pm. Service - Self service. Price - Free, please donate. Owner Comment - Congrats on your success since 1827 and as Australia's first museum.

Christina R.

I'm obsessed with this museum. It's gorgeous with super interesting exhibits. It's open late on Wednesdays until 9pm (this is when we decided to go and let me tell you I appreciated it was mostly adults given how many kids we saw this day at Wild Life and Sea Life.) There was live music when we went. Most importantly, it's free to enter. There were so many interesting exhibits, it was hard to tear yourself away to move on in a timely fashion. We could have stayed in the hall with all of the taxidermy birds for 2 hours alone. We were mostly here to see Eric the pliosaur, whose fossil is opalized. It's funny because we were looking for him in the dinosaur area and couldn't find him so we asked someone who works in the museum and they told us that they had never heard of it. I thought we had gone to the wrong museum but we eventually found him on our own.

Gene W.

Sydney is great in that many of the city's public attractions are free. This includes this museum, and who doesn't love free. That being said, it's not a large museum if you don't tour (and pay extra for) the special limited time exhibits (e.g., Ramses gold). The special exhibit takes up at least 1/3 of museum floor space. The focal points of this museum are dinosaurs, minerals, and First Nations people (aboriginals). The rest of the displays are fairly generic presentations of natural history (preserved animals). Nothing wow here. There are some hands-on displays, but the museum could use some modernizing. The highlight for me was the dinosaur area including something called T-Rex autopsy. There was a very nice and large kids play and learning area, one of the best I've ever seen. Overall, a good place to kill 3-4 hours.

Donna B.

The oldest museum in Australia, the fifth oldest natural history museum in the world, and it's free. There is an abundance of learning here. Room after room after room on three floors. Australian animals - current and extinct, deadly snakes and giant spiders. In the First Nations Gallery discover the stories and cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. A large collection of clothing, household items and tools from the centuries. Dinosaurs, this museum has them. See the giant fossilised skeletons and life-size casts of Australian dinosaurs. And the strange but interesting autopsy of a T Rex. This life sized dino was created by the Crawley Creatures workshop. The dissection was filmed and aired on National Geographic. It might be a bit rough for little kids. The Westpac Long Gallery has items and stories from 100 of Australia's most-influential people. Some rooms were overwhelming. There was so many pieces to view and so much history to take in. I recommend you put it on your list to visit, but maybe do it in sections.

Terry O.

This great museum will inform you about Australia on many levels. It has been totally redone and the result is stunning. The day I went, admission was free, and they had some kind of music scheduled for the evening as part of their Thursday Nights at the Museum plan. The breadth and depth of the museum is incredible. One giant display room celebrates Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures through a rich diversity of objects and stories of living culture. It was terrific, with video stories from elders and all kind of cultural objects. Another room had ceremonial masks and other objects from a different group. A large amount of space is devoted to the animals of Australia including specimens of birds, dinosaurs, extinct and endangered animals, and even what you might find in your own back yard. The first gallery you will probably visit is an eclectic collection of 100 treasures-- everything from early money to Zulu shields. On the museum website there's a link to click that lets you listen to an explanation of each treasure. The ground floor is a natural history specimen gallery of many kinds of animals from around the world. This Wild Planet collection focuses on the interconnectedness of species and the museum's role in research. Plan to spend the whole day there--it's that big! There are two places to eat. One is a limited menu cafe and the other is the more expensive restaurant. It's easy to reach by train. Just remember to bring a Covid vaccination record--mine was a picture on my phone. For now, you can't get in without it.

Caitlyn W.

For a free museum, it was great! I was confused about whether or not any of the fossils were real, as they looked fake... but who am I to say. Regardless, I think it's great that it's so accessible for all!

Jen L.

The first museum in Australia and I have to say they've done a great reinvention of a 19th century taxidermy museum into an actual space for science and learning. Yes it's mostly for kids. No I'm not a kid...well maybe at heart. BUT I got a lot out of the museum anyway. My favorite exhibits were the urban habitats, broom-closet sized spaces with all the wildlife you might find in your shed in Sydney. And the information on first peoples. Seriously go learn about Truganini right now. I'm so glad they finally honored her wishes in 1976. Oh and did I mention dinosaur bones? Yep they have those too. My favorite was the little kid roaring at the triceratops. But my favorite dinosaur is forever stegosaurus. Definitely a great space to learn about nature and what they're trying to do better.

Marqus R.

If you're in Sydney be aware that the huge neoclassical structure on College Street is the Australian Museum and it should be on your list of places to visit. Though there are many descriptions of it, to me it basically remains as an "encyclopedic warehouse of cultural and natural history" based upon European models. It has vast displays of mineral, cultural and fossil finds from throughout the world but basically keeps with an Australian theme. The displays are well presented, photography is allowed, and though very much like most other museums there is one of the things that differentiates it. That is that some of the displays have a novel wit, humor and sense of style about them which is a welcome break from the otherwise overly serious and oft boring monotony of most museums, such as the human skeletons. One skeleton is found waving his arm while riding atop a skeleton of a horse. Another is human skeleton is seated in what appears to be a comfortable reading chair, the skeleton of his companion dog at his side with the descriptive sign of "Home Sweet Home" above. . Trust me this, they are displays that no one can see without being amused and taking notice.

Chris S.

What a wonderful museum this is. They had dinosaurs and birds and butterflies etc. Today they had the Bakersfield College Choral choir performing and it was amazing. I especially enjoyed the Aboriginal exhibit. They have lots of skeletons and dinosaurs bones on exhibit. Thus would be great for kids.

Kevin W.

They say this is the oldest museum. The museum is filled with boring exhibits and pictures but it has a great activity center for kids. The history of the aboriginals is pretty interesting. You can spend hours and this museum before you realize it. I would go here if you have time to burn but I wouldn't call it a must see.

Darya S.

Oldest museum in Australia! This is a decent natural museum with cool basic info about a variety of animals. You're basically walking through and looking at models of animals and reading information about them. There's a section about the Aboiriginals, which I loved learning about, because as Americans, we're very ignorant about the history, so it was brand new information to me. There were also some dinosaur skeletons and fossils. I liked it, but wished it was a tad more interactive. Adults $15, but with any type of student ID, $8. There are also special exhibits that you pay extra for.

Jenny K.

It had just occurred to me after suggesting the museum to a friend that nannys small children, that I never reviewed my time here! With A Sunday to myself I bought a $20 ticket and access pass to the Wildlife Photographer of the year exhibit. What a beautiful array of life's creatures big and micro small. It was rainy so there were a lot of mums and bubs running around cooing. Having only moved to Sydney recently, I very much loved immersing myself in the Aboriginal exhibit. Taxidermy animals, expansive minerals and gems collection, dinosaurs, live animals, sounds and sites galore! A great place to bring small children or 30 year olds with some free time.

Miranda P.

Kinda feels like walking through your eccentric, hoarding grandmother's attic full of forgotten rocks, skeletons and taxidermied animals. Seriously, it was like an eerie, inanimate zoo. There's also an exhibit attempting to convince us tourists that everything in Australia doesn't really want to kill you. You know, giant saltwater crocs, sharks, box jellies, snakes, spiders... (Nice try!) The Indigenous Australians exhibit was a bit more modern and engaging and there are new exhibits under construction, which is promising. To be fair, the cafe on the fourth floor had some pretty decent food and panoramic views of the city.