Corporate Body

Industrial and Technological Museum (1870 - 1945)

Colony and State of Victoria

From
1870
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
To
1945
Functions
Collection Management, History of Australian Engineering, History of Australian Science, History of Australian Technology and Museum

Summary

The Industrial and Technological Museum opened to the public in 1870, in the Great Hall of the building which had housed the Intercolonial Exhibition of 1866 - 1867. Its first director (styled Scientific Superintendent), Cosmo Newbery, used as his model the Museum of Irish Industry in Dublin and established four sections. These were: geology, with specimens from around the world; zoological (for animal products and their uses); phytological (processed vegetable products); and machinery and models of inventions. A key part of the Museum's program was the delivery of public education lectures, which continued until 1887. The Museum was never well-resourced such that Newbery was permitted to take on private work as an assayist to supplement his income. Henry Walcott, succeeding Newbery as Curator but with a lower salary, held the job for only four years before the Museum closed. Some of its collections were dispersed, the minerals being transferred to the National Museum of Victoria. On the reopening of the Industrial and Technological Museum in 1915 Walcott was again appointed as Curator. Unfortunately, under-resourcing continued to be a problem. Walcott was succeeded by Leonard Ninnis (at a lower salary) who left after a few months. The Museum became the Museum of Applied science in 1945 having for most of WWII survived with only one professional officer, the Curator Edgar Penrose.

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Details

Officers-in-Charge:
J. Cosmo Newbery, Scientist Superintendent 1870 - 1895
R. Henry Walcott, Curator 1895 - 1899 and 1915 - 1935
Leonard Ninnis, Curator October 1935 - February 1936
Edgar Penrose, Curator 1936 - 1945

Timeline

 1870 - 1945 Industrial and Technological Museum
       1945 - 1971 Museum of Applied Science
             1971 - 1983 Science Museum of Victoria
                   1983 - 1998 Museum of Victoria
                         1998 - Museum Victoria

Related People

Published resources

Books

  • Rasmussen, Carolyn et al., A Museum for the people: a History of Museum Victoria and its predecessor institutions, 1854-2000 (Carlton North, Victoria: Scribe Publications, 2001), 420 pp. Details

Resources

See also

  • Farley, Simon, 'Flora and failure: A history of plants and people on the Parkville campus' in Dhoombak goobgoowana: a history of Indigenous Australia and the University of Melbourne, Ross L. Jones, James Waghorne and Marcia Langton, eds (Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press, 2024), pp. 6-21, https://www.mup.com.au/books/dhoombak-goobgoowana-paperback-softback. Details
  • Pescott, R. T. M., Collections of a century: the history of the first hundred years of the National Museum of Victoria, Melbourne (Melbourne: National Museum of Victoria, 1954), 186 pp. Details

Helen Cohn

Created: 25 June 2024

EOAS ID: biogs/P007403b.htm

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