Museums Victoria is an organisation which operates three major state-owned museums in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, the Melbourne Museum, the Immigration Museum and Scienceworks. It also manages the Royal Exhibition Building and a storage facility in Melbourne's City of Moreland.
Museums Victoria is the caretaker of the body of Phar Lap, Australia's most famous race horse. Phar Lap's skeleton is housed at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and his heart is kept at the National Museum of Australia.
The museum traces its history back to the establishment of the National Museum of Victoria in 1854 under the directorship of Frederick McCoy. It was founded in its current form under the Australian Museums Act (1983). The collections of around 16 million objects cover Indigenous items, science, history and technology.
Significant events in the Museum's history include:
The present Chief Executive Officer of Museums Victoria is Lynley Marshall, who was previously the head of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s international arm. Ms Marshall is the first woman to lead the organisation in its 162-year history.
Former Museum directors include: