South Australian Museum
Australia · Oceania
About
The South Australian Museum is a natural history museum and research institution in Adelaide, South Australia, founded in 1856 and owned by the Government of South Australia. It occupies a complex of buildings on North Terrace in the cultural precinct of the Adelaide Parklands. It has the largest collection of Australian Aboriginal cultural collection in the world, and its Australian Polar collection (formerly the Mawson Gallery) includes many artefacts from early Antarctic exploration by South Australian scientists and explorers. It also holds a large collection of minerals; over three million animal specimens (including the most comprehensive marine mammal collection in Australia); and around 50,000 fossil specimens. The Museum Library includes reference works relevant to the museum research, as well as being a source of specialised publications and photographs for other researchers.
As of September 2025 the acting director of the museum is Clare Mockler; the new director, Samantha Hamilton, begins her role on 20 October 2025.
Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.