History
The state museum of Queensland
For 150 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
