The Australian Museum Mineral Gallery

The Australian Museum in Sydney has recently launched a new permanent display of its mineral gallery.

The collection, one of Australia’s largest, has over 80,000 specimens with some 1800 selected for display in the new Minerals Gallery that opened in December 2022. On display is a range of minerals and crystals from all over the world including some fantastic Australian mineral specimens. 

Part of the collection includes 820 specimens from the Albert Chapman collection. The collection was purchased by the New South Wales government in 1988 and transferred to the Australian Museum in 1995. It is now on display for everyone to admire the pure beauty and expanse of his collection. 

Some stand-out pieces include the deeply saturated red rhodochrosite from South Africa, topaz specimens from Russia and various meteorite specimens in the Rocks from space display.

Other displays include specimens from the Warren Somerville collection, the George Smith collection, the Sir Douglas Mawson collection and a stunning Australian Opals display.

It is a large space so allow plenty of time to browse through each cabinet and read the provided information plaques. 

Travelling to the Sydney museum is relatively easy by train. Get a train to Central station and then jump on to a City Circle train and get off at Museum or St James station and walk across Hyde Park. 

Below are some photos, I don’t want to spoil it for you all though, so I highly recommend seeing the collection for yourself. 

At the time of our visit in January 2023, admission to the exhibition is free. For more information visit: https://australian.museum/exhibition/minerals/