Scienceworks (Museums Victoria), Spotswood, VIC

Museum Victoria is Australia's largest public museum organisation. Collections. As the state museum for Victoria, we are responsible for looking after the State collection of nearly 17 million objects, documents, photographs and specimens. Research. Our research, in the fields of science and humanities, uses the museum's collections and expert staff to further what we know about the social and natural history of Victoria and beyond. Exhibitions. We present long-term and temporary exhibitions at three venues: Melbourne Museum, the Immigration Museum and Scienceworks. These exhibitions are core to our cultural and scientific programs for the people of Victoria and visitors from interstate and overseas. History. Museum Victoria's origins date back to 1854, with the founding of the National Museum of Victoria and the establishment, in 1870, of the Industrial and Technological Museum of Victoria (later known as the Science Museum of Victoria). By proclamation of the Museums Act 1983 (Vic.), these two institutions were amalgamated to form what is known today as Museum Victoria, governed by the Museums Board of Victoria. In 1996, Museum Victoria took over custodianship of the World Heritage listed Royal Exhibition Building .