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Tour Museum highlights tour Time: 1pm–2pm Date: Daily Ticket information: Costs apply Ticket information: Book tickets

This guided tour provides an excellent introduction to the Museum, exploring highlights from our permanent exhibition galleries.

Exhibition Talking Blak to History Time: 9am–5pm Date: Daily Ticket information: Free

Talking Blak to History in our First Australians gallery features powerful objects and stories that speak to the aftermath of colonisation, of survival and resilience.

Tour Host talks Date: Daily Ticket information: Free

On the hour between 10am and 4pm
Join a free 10-minute host talk in our Great Southern Land or First Australians galleries or the Garden of Australian Dreams.

Tour Building and architecture tour Date: Daily Ticket information: Costs apply Ticket information: Book tickets

10am
This guided tour provides an insight into the stories and meanings hidden in the Museum building, design and landscapes. Please wear appropriate footwear for walking outside.

Tour First Australians tour Date: Daily Ticket information: Costs apply Ticket information: Book tickets

3–4pm
Take a guided tour with one of our hosts to learn about First Nations peoples, their history, culture and connection to country.

Experience Tim and Gina Fairfax Discovery Centre Time: 9.15am–4.45pm Date: Daily Ticket information: Costs apply, bookings essential Ticket information: Book tickets

Daily 75-minute sessions: 9.15am, 10.45am, 12.15pm, 2pm, 3.30pm
This fun, immersive play space is designed for children of all abilities aged 0 to 6 years. Every session includes free, child-led activities in our mini makers corner.

Exhibition Great Southern Land Time: 9am–5pm Date: Daily Ticket information: Free

Explore stunning objects and rich multi-sensory experiences as you discover the story of the vast, vibrant Australian continent. See how the continent has transformed into one of the most diverse and resilient places on Earth – and how these changes can guide us in the future.

Experience Beyond the Milky Way Ticket information: Costs apply, bookings essential Ticket information: Book tickets

Fridays to Sundays and daily in school holidays – 25 Sep to 8 Oct and 15 to 31 Dec (closed 15 Oct and 25 Dec)
Experience one of the greatest international scientific endeavours in history as you step onto Australia’s future site of the incredible Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope in an immersive 360-degree virtual reality cinema experience.

Experience The Antarctica Experience Ticket information: Costs apply, bookings essential Ticket information: Book tickets

Fridays to Sundays and daily in school holidays – 25 Sep to 8 Oct and 15 to 31 Dec (closed 15 Oct and 25 Dec)
Explore a day in the life of Antarctic scientists in this immersive virtual reality adventure, brought to you by the National Museum of Australia and the Western Australian Museum.

Event Discovery Centre quiet hours Time: 3.30pm–4.45pm Ticket information: Costs apply Ticket information: Book tickets

First Tuesday of the month
Explore the Tim and Gina Fairfax Discovery Centre in a quiet hours session for visitors who prefer a quieter experience. These sessions offer reduced noise and sensory experiences.

Tour Great Southern Land group tours Date: Daily Ticket information: Costs apply, bookings essential Ticket information: Book tickets

Daily at 9am, 11am, 12pm, 2pm, 4pm
Traverse the vast, vibrant Australian continent on this tour of the Museum’s environmental history gallery, Great Southern Land.

Exhibition Belonging Time: 9am–5pm Date: Daily until 18 February 2024 Ticket information: Free

Belonging: Stories from Far North Queensland is the second in a three-part exhibition series that captures generations of First Nations cultural knowledge shaped by a profound relationship to Country. Featuring works from Cardwell, Badu Island and Aurukun.

Event Talented tales Ticket information: Costs apply, bookings essential Ticket information: Book tickets

22 Oct 23
Experience the joy and wonder of stories with award-winning children’s book authors and illustrators from around Australia. Join our special guest author or illustrator for story time, then head over to the Workshop for a unique creative activity.

Experience Dyara Indigenous Arts Hub Time: 9am–5pm Date: Daily until 30 November 2023

The Dyara Indigenous Arts Hub features handmade products sourced from around Australia. Dyara is the Ngunnawal word for bowerbird – a name chosen to reflect the hub’s eclectic collection of items. You’ll find paintings, jewellery, weavings, sculpture, homewares and fashion by First Nations artists and designers including Judy Watson, Cedric Varcoe and Alma Nungarrayi Granites. Come and explore the range in our Gandel Atrium.

Betty is back Time: 9.30am–2pm Date: Daily until 8 October 2023

Take a break in the Museum’s Garden of Australian Dreams at the 1950s-inspired coffee caravan, Betty. Enjoy hot and cold drinks and a variety of tempting treats while you listen to tunes and relax in the retro deck chairs.

Event Country, Culture and Me Time: 10.30am–11.30am Date: Monday, September 25, 2023 Ticket information: Costs apply Ticket information: Book tickets

Listen, dance, sing and laugh with Gregg Dreise (Kamilaroi and Euahlayi) as he shares his knowledge of Country in this interactive workshop. Gregg will also be signing his books after the workshop. Bookings essential.

Event Aquatic Creatures Ticket information: Costs apply, bookings essential Ticket information: Book tickets

26 and 27 Sept 23 | Sessions: 10–11.30am and 12.30–2pm
Join Waterwatch on the edge of Lake Burley Griffin and discover our region’s unique aquatic life. Fish for water bugs and learn about their habitats, then create your own water bug using recycled materials.

Event Time Traveller's Book Club – Australia's Great Depression by Joan Beaumont Time: 11am–12pm Date: Tuesday, September 26, 2023 Ticket information: Free, bookings essential Ticket information: Book tickets

In the Great Depression of the 1920s and 30s, high levels of debt and the collapse of wool and wheat prices left Australia particularly vulnerable. Join us to review Joan Beaumont's impressive narrative of resilience by Australia's democratic institutions and people. Exclusive to Friends. Join Friends

Event Nature's Lab: New Materials in Design panel discussion Time: 6pm–7.30pm Date: Wednesday, September 27, 2023 Ticket information: Costs apply Ticket information: Book tickets

Join us to hear how designers are working with nature to develop new materials in response to the pressing global challenges of environmental degradation and resource depletion. Bookings essential.

Experience Voyage Time: 9am–5pm Date: Daily until 5 November 2023 Ticket information: Free

From 28 September 2023
Voyage: Experience the William Farquhar Collection of Natural History Drawings of Southeast Asia is a digital installation bringing to life a stunning selection of botanical and zoological watercolours from the National Museum of Singapore.

Event Platypus Stories Date: Every weekday until 6 October 2023 Ticket information: Costs apply, bookings essential Ticket information: Book tickets

From Thur 28 Sept (excludes Mon 2 Oct public holiday). Sessions: 10–11.30am and 12.30–2pm 
Dive into Australia’s waterscapes and explore the hidden world of the platypus, one of Australia’s most iconic and elusive native animals. In this workshop, you will visit the platypus exhibit in the Great Southern Land gallery, then capture the platypus and their world in your own unique work of art.

Event Object Club – James O Fairfax Senior Fellow in Culture and Environment curator talk Time: 10.30am–11.30am Date: Friday, September 29, 2023 Ticket information: Free, bookings essential Ticket information: Book tickets

Join Dr Kirsten Wehner, the Museum’s inaugural James O Fairfax Senior Fellow in Culture and Environment, to hear the ways in which the program explores how Australian lives are intertwined with our environment and how we can make new stories about coming together to care for our living places. Exclusive to Friends. Join Friends

Event Canberra MG Rally car display Time: 9am–2pm Date: Saturday, September 30, 2023 Ticket information: Free

Join us as more than 100 of Australia's finest MG sports cars built between 1923 and 1955 gather to celebrate a century of MG production. Visitors can walk among the cars, marvel at their technical design and talk with owners. Organised by the MG Car Club Canberra.

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