Departmental collections

  • Scinaia forcellata, seaweed
    Botany collections

    Learn more about how curators are collating and caring for our collections from around the world.

  • Tragocephala nobilis, longhorn beetle
    Entomology collections

    An estimated 28 million prepared specimens, including insects and other terrestrial and freshwater arthropods, including spiders, mites and myriapods.

  • Aquamarine is the blue variety of beryl (beryllium aluminum silicate)
    Mineralogy collections

    Well over a third of a million individual specimens divided into four main elements: minerals, (about 180,000), rocks, (about 120,000), meteorites (about 5,000) and ores (about 70,000).

  • Nummulites gizhensis from the Egyptian Eocene
    Palaeontology collections

    The database returns information about Palaeontology Department specimens that are computer catalogued and is intended to provide detailed information to scientific enquirers.

  • An articulated skeleton of a Skye Terrier
    Zoology collections

    Find out more about the Zoology collections at the Museum.

  • Front cover of Australasia by Alfred Russell Wallace, 1893
    Library collections

    Over 790,000 volumes, 112,000 original pieces of arwork, 20,000 photos, 12,000 current serials and geological maps.

  • Sloane's 'Vegetable and Vegetable Substances'.
    Museum treasures

    The treasures of the Museum's collections are available for loan.