Tasmanian Museum And Art Gallery
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The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) is a museum located in
Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...
,
Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...
. The museum was established in 1846, by the
Royal Society of Tasmania The Royal Society of Tasmania (RST) was formed in 1843. It was the first Royal Society outside the United Kingdom, and its mission is the advancement of knowledge. The work of the Royal Society of Tasmania includes: * Promoting Tasmanian historic ...
, the oldest
Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
outside England. The TMAG receives 400,000 visitors annually.


History

The museum was officially created in 1848, though the collections it housed were much created earlier. It merged a number of disparate collections, including that of the Royal Society of Tasmania. The Mechanics' Institution of Hobart, Van Diemen's Land Agricultural Society and Van Diemen's Land Scientific Society had each attempted to found a museum earlier than this date, the most successful of these being the Mechanics' Institution, but little record remains of what happened to these efforts.
Sir John Eardley-Wilmot, 1st Baronet Sir John Eardley Eardley-Wilmot, 1st Baronet (21 February 1783 – 3 February 1847) was a politician in the United Kingdom who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for North Warwickshire and then as Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land (lat ...
, during his period was Lt. Governor of Tasmania, did much of the work that led to the modern museum. The museum was noted as first being an established institution in the 1848 minutes of the Royal Society of Tasmania, though Wilmot had done most of the work in 1843 and had attempted to set up a museum in the cottage of the Secretary of the Governor, in what is now the
Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens The Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens (''RTBG''), which cover an area of approximately 14 hectares (34.6 acres), in Hobart located within the Queens Domain. History The gardens were established in 1818 and is the second oldest Botanical Garden ...
. In 1838 the Mechanics' Institution received an agreement from the government for a room to be constructed in the Customs House for use as a museum. Customs House was later requisitioned by the Legislative Council of Tasmania and became
Parliament House, Hobart Parliament House, Hobart, located on Salamanca Place in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, is the meeting place of the Parliament of Tasmania. The building was originally designed as a customs house but changed use in 1841 when Tasmania achieved self- ...
. The Royal Society of Tasmania later founded TMAG in the sub-committee room of the Parliament, possibly the same room. The museum moved to Harrington St in 1852, where it paid £60 a year in rent for a hall there. In 1853 the governor placed before the Legislative Council a debate on the state granting a plot of land for the building of a permanent museum building. In 1854 the museum attracted over 1000 visitors in a year for the first time. In 1855 the Lady Franklin Museum, founded in 1842 at Acanthe Park (now Lenah Valley), sold its fittings and collection to the Royal Society and these were added to the TMAG. The acquisition was driven by the donation of a large geology collection by Joseph Milligan. In 1861 after a number of years, funding was acquired from the state government to construct a museum on the corner of Argyle and Macquarie Streets, and the Royal Society hosted an architectural contest. Henry Hunter won and was awarded the contract to design a permanent building for the museum.
Henry Young Sir Henry Edward Fox Young, KCMG (23 April 1803 – 18 September 1870) was the fifth Governor of South Australia, serving in that role from 2 August 1848 until 20 December 1854. He was then the first Governor of Tasmania, from 1855 until 1861. ...
, Governor of Tasmania, laid the cornerstone in that year. The Museum was completed by 1862 and a celebratory art exhibition was hosted by Morton Allport, Henry Hunter and a Captain F. E. Chesney. The art exhibition's objective was to raise money for internal fittings of the building, as the money allocated by the state had only covered construction of the building. In 1884 Alexander Morton, previously Assistant Curator of the
Australian Museum The Australian Museum is a heritage-listed museum at 1 William Street, Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. It is the oldest museum in Australia,Design 5, 2016, p.1 and the fifth oldest natural history museum in the ...
, was appointed curator. In 1885 the museum was passed from the Royal Society of Tasmania to the a board of trustees under the state government, with a yearly endowment of £500. Until this point it was officially named The Royal Society's Museum. The Royal Society granted the Royal Botanical Gardens, Hobart to the state government at the same time, and they became known as the Tasmanian Museum and Botanical Gardens in that year.
Adye Douglas Sir Adye Douglas (31 May 1815 – 10 April 1906) was an Australian lawyer and politician, and first class cricket player, who played one match for Tasmania. He was Premier of Tasmania from 15 August 1884 to 8 March 1886. Early life The so ...
, Premier of Tasmania, was elected Chair of the Board and Alexander Morton was reelected curator and secretary with an annual salary of £200. In 1889 a new wing was opened by R Hamilton to extend the museum. In 1890
Betsey Island Betsey Island, along with the adjacent Little Betsey Island and Betsey Reef, forms a nature reserve with an area of 176 ha in south-eastern Australia. They are part of the Betsey Island Group, lying close to the south-eastern coast of Tasmani ...
, then Franklin Island, was granted to the Trustees of the Museum. Since then the Museum has expanded to occupy all the buildings in the block, including the 1810 Commissariat Store, and the 1902 Customs House facing Davey Street. In 1952 the boards of the Botanical Gardens and the Museum were split and the museum assumed its modern name. An act of Parliament was passed to make this so.


Governance

In 1885, TMAG became a
Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
authority under the control of a Board of Trustees that also controlled the
Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens The Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens (''RTBG''), which cover an area of approximately 14 hectares (34.6 acres), in Hobart located within the Queens Domain. History The gardens were established in 1818 and is the second oldest Botanical Garden ...
. By statute, it is now controlled by a Board of Trustees, and is currently part of the
Department of State Growth The Tasmanian Department of State Growth is the Tasmanian Government department with responsibility for driving state growth and to implement the government's long-term plan for creating jobs, growth, and opportunities for all Tasmanians, in Au ...
.


Associated bodies

TMAG has a number of associated bodies. The Foundation of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery serves as the primary fundraising body for the TMAG. The Friends of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery works to encourage community engagement with the museum, along with its youth-focused counterpart TMAGgots. The Royal Society of Tasmania founded the museum, donating much of its collection, and continues to loan a significant number of pieces.


Other facilities

In addition to the main campus, TMAG includes three external sites: a herbarium, a storage and research facility, and the Moonah Workshop.


State collection

The museum and art gallery reopened to the public on 15 March 2013, after a four-month closure for redevelopment works.


See also

* List of museums in Tasmania


References


External links

*
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Twitter streamTasmanian Museum and Art Gallery YouTube channelFlora of Tasmania OnlineTMAGgots website
{{Coord, -42.8819, 147.3319, type:landmark_region:AU, display=title Landmarks in Hobart Museums in Hobart 1843 establishments in Australia Natural history museums in Australia Culture in Hobart Art museums and galleries in Tasmania Numismatic museums in Australia Government agencies of Tasmania Tasmanian Heritage Register