The Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery (QVMAG) is a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...

located in Launceston,

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. The QVMAG is the largest museum in Australia not located in a capital city.

History

The foundation stone for the original building to house the Victoria Museum and Art Gallery was laid by the Mayor of Launceston, Robert Carter, on 21 June 1887. Alexander Morton, of the museum in Hobart, acted as honorary curator from its opening in 1891 until 1896, with Herbert Hedley Scott assuming the role of curator in May 1897. In 1926 the Launceston City Council amended the name to Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery to avoid confusion with the state of Victoria. Scott died in 1938 and was succeeded as director by his son,

Eric Oswald Gale Scott Eric Oswald Gale Scott (b. 18 October 1899 at Launceston, Tasmania, d. 24 June 1986 at Launceston) was an Australian teacher, museum director, ichthyologist and pacifist. He was the director of the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launcest ...

later that year.

Collection and locations

Established in 1891, the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery has a strong reputation for its collection which includes fine exhibitions of colonial art, contemporary

craft A craft or trade is a pastime or an occupation that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small scale pr ...

and

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design' ...

, Tasmanian history and

natural sciences Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeat ...

, specifically a

zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, an ...

collection. There is also a special exhibition of a full

Chinese temple Chinese temple architecture refer to a type of structures used as place of worship of Chinese Buddhism, Taoism or Chinese folk religion, where people revere ethnic Chinese gods and ancestors. They can be classified as: * '' miào'' () or ''d ...

that was used by 19th-century Chinese tin miners, a working

planetarium A planetarium ( planetariums or ''planetaria'') is a Theater (structure), theatre built primarily for presenting educational entertainment, educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navi ...

, and displays related to Launceston's industrial environment and

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...

workshops. The museum also houses the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previousl ...

awarded to Lewis McGee. The Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery is located on two sites, at Royal Park and at Inveresk, the site of the old Launceston Railway Workshops

Publications

As part of its work, the QVMAG has published several journals relating to Tasmanian ecology and history. These include ''Records of the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery'', ''Occasional Papers of the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery'', ''Technical Reports of the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery''.

References

External links

Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery website
{{authority control Museums in Tasmania Museums established in 1891 Natural history museums in Australia Art museums and galleries in Tasmania Planetaria in Australia Buildings and structures in Launceston, Tasmania 1891 establishments in Australia Railway museums in Tasmania Tasmanian Heritage Register

History

Collection and locations

Publications

See also

References

External links