History

Queensland's museum

For more than 153 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 South Bank opened in the heart of Brisbane’s cultural precinct

1987 - Cobb+Co Museum opened in Toowoomba

1987 - Museum of Tropical Queensland opened in Townsville

2002 - The Workshops Rail Museum opened in Ipswich

2012 - Queensland Museum celebrates 150 years of connecting and collecting

2013 - Queensland Museum South Bank opens Lost Creatures