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Welcome to the
National Museum of Australia

Explore the National Museum of Australia’s Landmarks gallery in 3D. Discover objects and stories about some of the defining moments that have shaped Australia.

There are two ways to explore:

1 Complete the challenge to find 10 defining moment displays

2 Or do your own self-guided tour.

Click on green spots to look at the highlight objects and check out some 3D objects. Click on the help button for details on how to navigate through the museum.

At any time you can also go to the menu and play a number of exciting games that will help you investigate defining moments in your own family history and in your own local community. Good luck!

Our Landmarks gallery is temporarily closed while we create a new and inspiring space for more Australian stories. Thanks for your continuing support.

3D Objects

Find these interactive objects in the museum or quick link to them below.

Key Defining Moments Activity Sheet

Find these 10 defining moments displays and decide if they are an example of a personal moment, a local community moment and/or a national moment. You can choose more than one option for each one but be ready to explain your reasons!

1 Conflict between European settlers and Aboriginal people from 1788
2 Flinders’ circumnavigation of Australia in 1803
3 The Crossing of the Blue Mountains in 1813
4 The Burke and Wills expedition from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria in 1861
5 The discovery of gold in the 1850s
6 The Sunshine Harvester judgment gives a fair and reasonable wage in 1907
7 Enid Lyons becomes the first female member of the Commonwealth Parliament in 1943
8 The development of the Snowy Mountains hydroelectric scheme from 1949
9 The First Melbourne Cup is run in 1861
10 Holden, Australia’s first locally made car in 1948

How to use

In this virtual reality activity you explore the National Museum of Australia. Click on the checklist activity button to view the activity worksheet.

Use your mouse, keyboard or touch screen to explore the gallery. Click the markers in the Museum to view more information and links. You can also explore the Museum using compatible VR goggles!

As you explore the Museum you will find 3D objects. Click on these links to see interactive 3D models on defining moment objects found in the Museum. Alternatively, use the 3D objects quick list button to jump to them quickly.

The Matterport help button in the bottom right of the screen provides additional information on how to use VR goggles.

Accessibility Tips
To improve accessibility a high contrast mode is available via the main menu. If you are logged in, you can save high contrast mode as your default view. Video captions are enabled on all videos along with PDF transcripts of the videos via the help button.

Teacher's notes PDF Welcome Video Transcript PDF