Natural history museum in New South Wales, Australia
Macleay Museum Edgeworth David Building that houses the Macleay Museum |
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Former name | Museum of Antiquities |
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| Established | 1887 (1887) |
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| Dissolved | 22 November 2016 (2016-11-22) |
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| Location | Science Road, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia |
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| Coordinates | 33°53′07″S 151°11′17″E / 33.8852°S 151.1881°E / -33.8852; 151.1881 |
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| Type | Natural history museum |
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| Collections | - Colonial/Australian entomology
- Colonial/Australian ethnography
- Scientific instruments and apparatus
- Colonial/Australian historic photographs
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| Collection size | 79,000+ |
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| Founder | |
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| Director, University Museums | David Ellis
(since 2013) |
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| Curator | - Jan Brazier (History)
- Rebecca Conway (Ethnography)
- Anthony Gill (Natural History)
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| Architect | George Allen Mansfield |
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| Owner | The University of Sydney |
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| Website | sydney.edu.au/museums/collections/macleay.shtml |
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| Official name | Macleay Museum; Macleay Museum Building, University of Sydney Including Interior |
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| Type | Local government heritage (built) |
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| Criteria | a., c., d., e., f. |
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| Designated | 14 December 2012 |
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| Reference no. | I79 |
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| Type | Education |
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| Category | University |
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The Macleay Museum at The University of Sydney, was a natural history museum located on the University's Camperdown campus, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Museum was amalgamanted into Chau Chak Wing Museum, which opened in 2020.[1]
The Macleay Museum was added to the City of Sydney local government heritage list on 14 December 2012.[2][3]
History
The Edgeworth David building in which the museum is housed was built off Science Lane within the Camperdown campus in 1887. The collections of the Macleay Museum are based largely on the efforts and acquisitions of the Macleay family, one of the pre-eminent families in colonial Sydney including Alexander Macleay, William Sharp Macleay and William John Macleay. The zoologist and collector George Masters served as curator until 1912.[4]
Collection
The strengths of the collection, now part of the Sydney University Museums, were in entomology, ethnography, scientific instruments, and historic photographs. Many of the biological specimens in the collection represented rare or extinct species, while some of the specimens have historic and cultural value[5] as they were collected by explorers like Charles Darwin and Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay.
The George Masters Exhibition Space of the museum was devoted to temporary exhibitions. Overall, the museum house one of the most important natural history and ethnography collections in Australia,[citation needed] surpassed in Sydney only by the Australian Museum.
