Canberra Museum and Gallery, Australia

Canberra Museum and Gallery (CMAG) serves a unique role as a place to experience the diverse history and contemporary culture of the Canberra region; and through this to gain a deeper understanding of Australia’s dynamic culture in its global setting.

Canberra Museum and Gallery is an art gallery and museum in Canberra, the capital of Australia. It is located on London Circuit, in Civic in the centre of the city. The gallery was opened on 13 February 1998.

The museum houses a permanent collection called Reflecting Canberra which opened on 14 February 2001. Among other things the exhibition includes works on display about the Canberra bushfires of 2003.

There are several galleries located on two floors of the building, which have different exhibitions of paintings, photography or other works of art and the social history of Canberra. In its first five years the gallery had held 158 exhibitions. Entry to the gallery is free.

A vibrant place in the heart of the city, Canberra Museum and Gallery celebrates the region's social history and visual arts with dynamic exhibitions and unique programs and events.

Showcasing Canberra Museum and Gallery's permanent collection in the Canberra Stories Gallery, along with five other gallery spaces, the gallery offers a variety of changing exhibitions.

CMAG is also the home of The Foundation Collection of Sir Sidney Nolan's paintings, donated by the artist to the people of Australia in 1974. The collection is managed by the gallery on behalf of the Australian Government.

Canberra is blessed with an abundance of culture and artistic expression. Our museums and galleries house living collections of national and international acclaim, as well as local works, to savour and inspire.

Canberra Museum and Gallery's collection is growing. Although it began just two decades ago the collection now comprises over 6,500 objects. Together these special objects begin to represent the visual art and social history of our region, and you will find them neatly filling our modest, environmentally controlled display and storage spaces on Civic Square.

New objects present a great opportunity to uncover fresh stories from our region and we have recently started, when the opportunity exists, to record these stories on digital video via an interview with the object's donor.

You’ll find the world’s largest collection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artworks on display at the National Gallery of Australia, the Foundation Collection of Sir Sidney Nolan's paintings at Canberra Museum and Gallery, and a standing legacy to Canberra’s earliest settlers at Blundell’s Cottage. It’s time to start your enlightening tour of Canberra’s collections.

CMAG is part of ACT Museums and Galleries which is an administrative unit of the Cultural Facilities Corporation (CFC), part of the ACT Government. The CFC was established under the Cultural Facilities Corporation Act 1997 for the purpose of managing and developing a number of the ACT’s major cultural assets: the Canberra Theatre; the Canberra Museum and Gallery; the Nolan Collection and ACT Historic Places (Lanyon, Calthorpes’ House and Mugga Mugga). The Corporation’s responsibilities span across the performing and visual arts, social history and cultural heritage management.

Consisting of the Canberra Museum and Gallery, the Nolan Collection and ACT Historic Places (Lanyon, Calthorpes’ House and Mugga Mugga), ACT Museums and Galleries delivers a range of cultural services to the community in providing activities such as exhibitions, public and education programs, as well as through collecting, conserving and presenting significant aspects of the ACT’s cultural heritage.