Day 3: National Museum of Australia

The National Museum of Australia is about the rich and diverse stories of Australia through compelling objects, ideas and events. It focuses on Indigenous histories and cultures, European settlement and our interaction with the environment.

Although it is one of Australia’s newest cultural institutions, the National Museum of Australia was almost 100 years in the making. Over the course of the 20th century, proposals for a national museum were intermittent, interrupted by wars and financial crises and stifled by government inaction.

In December 1996 the building of the Museum was announced as the key Centenary of Federation project, and Acton Peninsula was chosen as the site, with funding confirmed in 1997. The National Museum of Australia opened on 11 March 2001.

I liked the 1955 FJ Holden Special sedan displayed with a pink caravan. This Holden Special Sedan was built in July 1955 and purchased new from Beazley & Bruce in Canberra. The original owner drove it regularly between Tharwa and Queanbeyan in NSW until, reportedly, she encountered new traffic lights in Queanbeyan, prompting her to return home, cancel her licence and never drive again. The pink Propert ‘Trailaway’ touring caravan was a unique example built by the company in 1956 for advertising purposes.

There is also a display of a classic 1970s synth - the Prophet 5 by Sequential Circuits. This was designed by Dave Smith and John Bowen in 1977, who used microprocessors, then a new technology, to create the first polyphonic synthesizer with fully programmable memory. It was used extensively by Michael Jackson in the Thriller album and also Madonna in Like A Virgin.