History
Queensland Museum Network
For more than 160 years, we’ve been documenting, discovering, preserving and sharing Queensland’s natural and cultural heritage. More than a million items and specimens make up the State Collection that tells the changing story of Queensland.
Significant dates
1862 – Queensland Philosophical Society founded the Queensland Museum in Brisbane on 20 January, operating from a room set aside in the Windmill
1868 – Moved to the Parliamentary building in Queen Street, Brisbane
1871 – The government assumed primary responsibility for the Museum
1873 – Relocated into the old Post Office building
1879 – First purpose-built museum building completed, William Street, Brisbane
1899 – Moved to the Exhibition building
1982 – Museum of Lands, Mapping and Surveying opened in Woolloongabba, Brisbane
1985 – Closed the Museum’s home of 86 years, Brisbane’s Exhibition building
1986 – Queensland Museum opened in the heart of Brisbane’s cultural precinct
1987 – Cobb+Co Museum opened in Toowoomba
1987 – Museum of Tropical Queensland opened in Townsville
2000 – Museum of Tropical Queensland – brand new, landmark building opens on Flinders Street in the centre of Townsville
2002 – The Workshops Rail Museum opened in Ipswich
2010 – Cobb+Co Museum expansion opened
2012 – Queensland Museum celebrates 150 years of connecting and collecting
2013 – Queensland Museum opens Lost Creatures
2016 – Queensland Museum opens Wild State Gallery
2016 – Queensland Museum Network hosts the first World Science Festival Brisbane
2018 – Queensland Museum opens Anzac Legacy Gallery
2018 – Queensland Museum opens SparkLab, Sciencentre
2018 – Museum of Tropical Queensland – Sciencentre opens
2019 – Queensland Museum relocates Discovery Centre to Level 4
2019 – The Workshops Rail Museum’s Sciencentre opens
2019 – Queensland Museum opens a newly refurbished 1000 square metre exhibition space on Level 3