This list of museums in South Australia contains museums which are defined for this context as institutions (including nonprofit organizations, government entities, and private businesses) that collect and care for objects of cultural, artistic, scientific, or historical interest and make their collections or related exhibits available for public viewing. Also included are non-profit art galleries and university art galleries.
Name | Location | Region | Type | Summary |
---|---|---|---|---|
Adelaide suburbs | Prison | Preserved historic prison and function centre | ||
Adelaide Lithuanian Museum | Adelaide suburbs | Ethnic | website, Lithuanian life and culture | |
Adelaide Masonic Centre Museum | Adelaide | Masonic | website | |
Andamooka Dukes Bottlehouse Museum | Eyre Peninsula | Mining | information, opal mining, located in a building built from discarded beer bottles | |
Adelaide | Architecture | website, part of the University of South Australia, collection of documents related to the history and practice of architecture in South Australia[1] | ||
Ardrossan Historical Museum | Local history | website, operated by the National Trust of South Australia, located in the Clarence Herbert Smith Implement Factory where the stump-jump plough and other farm machinery were manufactured | ||
Army Museum of South Australia | Adelaide suburbs | Military | website, located in Keswick Barracks, | |
Adelaide | Adelaide | Visual arts | Largest state art collection in Australia | |
Arts Centre, Port Noarlunga | Adelaide suburbs | Art | website | |
Austbuilt Maritime Museum | Adelaide suburbs | Maritime | website, operated by the Port Adelaide Historical Society | |
Australian Museum of Childhood | Port Adelaide | Adelaide suburbs | Toy | information, Australian manufactured toys dating back to the 1890s |
Axel Stenross Maritime Museum | Maritime | website, boats and boat building, area maritime heritage | ||
Adelaide | Adelaide | Historic house | Operated by the National Trust of South Australia, 19th mansion with costumes, silverware, artworks and furniture | |
Balaklava Museum | Local history | website | ||
Barbed Wire Pub and Museum | Commodity | website, features over 500 examples of barbed wire | ||
Barossa Museum | Local history | website, area German heritage | ||
Barossa Regional Gallery | Art | website | ||
Bay Discovery Centre | Adelaide suburbs | Multiple | website, cultural heritage of South Australia, history, art | |
Beachport Old Wool and Grain Store Museum | Limestone Coast | Local history | website, information, operated by the National Trust of South Australia | |
Bon Accord Mining Museum | Mining | website, operated by the National Trust of South Australia | ||
Booleroo Steam & Traction Preservation Society Museum | Technology | website, steam tractors and agriculture equipment | ||
Bourne's Bird Museum | Natural history | information, mounted birds, nests and mammals, bird's eggs | ||
Brinkworth Historical Reserve Museum | Local history | information | ||
Military | information | |||
Burra Regional Art Gallery | Art | website | ||
Limestone Coast | Maritime | Operated by the National Trust of South Australia, furnished lighthouse with tower to climb | ||
Captain's Cottage Museum | Historic house | information | ||
Adelaide suburbs | Historic house | Mid 20th century mansion with collection of drawings, sculptures, antiques and paintings | ||
The Cedars (Australia) | Adelaide Hills | Historic house | website, house and studio of landscape artist Hans Heysen | |
Ceduna School House Museum | Education | website, operated by the National Trust of Australia | ||
Adelaide suburbs | Historic house | website, home of explorer Charles Sturt | ||
Chas Roe Electronics Museum | Technology | website, electrical appliances and devices including the telegraph, telephone, radio, television, sound and video recorders, home appliances, medical equipment, computers, TV games and more | ||
Clare Police Station and Courthouse | Local history | website, operated by the National Trust of South Australia | ||
Adelaide suburbs | Aerospace | |||
Limestone Coast | Farm | Late 19th century farmstead with historical thatched buildings and sheds, restored historical farm machinery and stationary engines | ||
Cobdogla Irrigation Museum | Technology | website, operated by the National Trust of South Australia, steam pump, locomotive, traction engine, tractors, machinery and irrigation equipment | ||
Adelaide | Adelaide | Arts | Contemporary art | |
Crystal Brook Heritage Centre | Local history | information | ||
Limestone Coast | Historic house | website, home of poet Adam Lindsay Gordon | ||
Edithburgh Museum | Local history | information | ||
Embroiderers' Guild of South Australia Museum | Adelaide suburbs | Textile | website, embroidered, beaded, patchwork and lace pieces – the collection started in 1965 became known officially as the Embroiderers' Guild Museum in 1988.[2] | |
Encounter Coast Discovery Centre | Local history | website, information, operated by the National Trust of South Australia, located in a former Customs house and station master's residence | ||
Adelaide suburbs | Open air | information, town and country life in South Australia from the 1880s to more recent times | ||
Eudunda Family Heritage Gallery | Local history | website | ||
Excell Blacksmith and Engineering Workshop Museum | History | information | ||
Farm Shed Museum | Yorke Peninsula | Agriculture | website, farm machinery, role of women on farms, operated by the National Trust of South Australia | |
Fayes Underground Home | Historic house | information, furnished dugout home | ||
Adelaide | Adelaide | Art | website, part of Flinders University | |
Adelaide suburbs | Military | 19th century fort | ||
Fred Teague's Museum | History | website, information, includes gemstones, minerals, fossils, photographs, antique bottles and memorabilia | ||
Friedensberg Historic German School Museum | Education | information | ||
Gamble Cottage | Adelaide suburbs | Historic house | website, operated by the National Trust of South Australia | |
Gawler Old Telegraph Station Museum | Adelaide suburbs | Local history | website, operated by the National Trust of South Australia | |
Glencoe Woolshed | Farming | website, 19th century blade shearing and wool handling shed, operated by the National Trust of South Australia | ||
Goolwa Motor Museum | Fleurieu Peninsula | Automotive | information | |
Goolwa Museum | Fleurieu Peninsula | Local history | website, operated by the National Trust of South Australia | |
Greenock Aviation Museum | Aerospace | information, preserved and replica aircraft, restoration projects, scale models and aviation memorabilia | ||
Adelaide Hills | Multiple | website, regional art gallery, local history, German migration, drawings of Hans Heysen | ||
Hindmarsh Fire & Folk Museum | Adelaide suburbs | Firefighting | website, equipment, clothing and vehicles, operated by the Hindmarsh Historical Society | |
Holdfast Bay History Centre | Adelaide suburbs | Local history | website | |
Hope Cottage Museum | Historic house | website, website, mid 19th century period cottage with period rooms, local history displays, operated by the National Trust of South Australia | ||
Jamestown Railway Station and Goods Shed Museum | Local history | website, operated by the National Trust of South Australia | ||
Jill and Vic Fauser's Private Museum | Eyre Peninsula | History | information, includes stationary engines, a blacksmith shop, shells, rocks and bottles, historic household items | |
Kapunda Community Gallery | Art | website | ||
Kapunda Museum | Local history | information | ||
Kerry Packer Civic Gallery | Adelaide | Adelaide | Art | website, part of the University of South Australia |
Kimba Historical Museum | Open air | information | ||
Kingston Historic House | Adelaide suburbs | Historic house | website, mid 19th century home of George Strickland Kingston | |
Kingston National Trust Museum | Limestone Coast | Local history | website, operated by the National Trust of South Australia | |
Koppio Smithy Museum | Local history | website, information, operated by the National Trust of South Australia | ||
Adelaide Hills | Local history | information, German and English pioneer heritage | ||
Lochend | Adelaide suburbs | Historic house | information, mid 19th century home of the town's founder | |
Louise Flierl Mission Museum | Adelaide Hills | Religious | information, history of the Lutheran Church of Australia in Papua New Guinea and more recently in South East Asia since 1886 | |
Loxton Historical Village | Open air | website, includes a baker, bank, blacksmith, garage, printer, farm complex, railway, institute, school, operational fruit block and more | ||
Lucindale Agricultural and Folk Museum | Limestone Coast | Local history | information, operated by the Lucindale Historical Society | |
Mallala Museum | Local history | website | ||
Mallee Tourist and Heritage Centre | Local plus specialities | information Murray Mallee dryland farming, plus D. A. Wurfel grain collection; extensive range restored farm machinery including replica Ridley stripper; letterpress printing | ||
Malowen Lowarth Cottage | Historic house | website, operated by the National Trust of South Australia, mid 19th century period stone cottage | ||
Mannum Dock Museum Of River History | Local history | information, includes a paddle steamer, dry dock, local history exhibits, fossils, Aboriginal people | ||
Market Square Museum | History | information, late 19th century period general store and shopkeeper's residence | ||
Historic house | Owned by the University of Adelaide, leased as heritage museum and boutique hotel | |||
Limestone Coast | Biographical | Based on the life and achievements of Mary MacKillop and Father Julian Tenison Woods | ||
Mary MacKillop Museum Adelaide | Kensington | Adelaide suburb | Social history | Life and work of Mary MacKillop, Julian Tenison Woods and the Sisters of St Joseph, past and present |
Melrose Courthouse Heritage Centre | Local history | website | ||
Meningie Cheese Factory Museum | Local history | website, | ||
Adelaide | Adelaide | Cultural | Immigration and settlement history of South Australia | |
Milang Historic Railway Museum | Milang | Fleurieu | Railway | South Australian Railway and Light Railway displays, many interactive, information |
Mill Cottage Museum | Historic house | information | ||
Millicent Living History Museum | Limestone Coast | Local history | information | |
Millicent Museum | Limestone Coast | Local history | website, operated by the National Trust of South Australia, features restored buggies, carriages and wagons, a machinery shed | |
Minlaton Museum | Local history | website, operated by the National Trust of South Australia | ||
MOD. Museum | Adelaide | Future | website, situated in the University_of_South_Australia CRI building on North Terrace | |
Moonta Mining Museum | Yorke Peninsula | Mining | website, operated by the National Trust of South Australia, life of the copper miners | |
Moonta Wheal Hughes Copper Mine | Yorke Peninsula | Mining | website, operated by the National Trust of South Australia, tour of the former copper mine | |
Local history | website, located in 3 sites, includes farming, riverboat trade, pumping station for the Morgan to Whyalla pipeline, horse-drawn vehicles | |||
Morphetts Enginehouse Museum | Technology | information, restored mining engine house | ||
Mount Dutton Bay Woolshed | Local history | website, shearing, farming and fishing tools and artifacts | ||
Mount Gambier Courthouse Museum | Law enforcement | website, operated by the National Trust of South Australia | ||
Mount Laura Homestead Museum | Eyre Peninsula | Multiple | website, information, includes early 20th century homestead, workman's cottage, shed with stationary engines, telecommunications museum, operated by the National Trust of South Australia | |
Murray Bridge Regional Gallery | Art | website | ||
Adelaide | Adelaide | Archaeology | Archaeology of Etruria, ancient Greece and ancient Rome, part of the University of Adelaide | |
Nangwarry Forestry & Logging Museum | Limestone Coast | Forestry | website | |
Naracoorte Art Gallery | Limestone Coast | Art | website, traditional and contemporary visual arts including etchings by John C. Goodchild, aboriginal prints, paintings and ceramics, furniture and social history items | |
Limestone Coast | Natural history | Fossils found in the caves on display in the Wonambi Fossil Centre | ||
Adelaide suburbs | Military | Trucks, tanks, uniforms, artillery | ||
Adelaide Hills | Transportation | Automobiles, motorcycles, model cars | ||
Adelaide suburbs | Railway | Locomotives, rolling stock, historic buildings and equipment | ||
National Trust Agricultural and Folk Museum | Eyre Peninsula | Agriculture | website, operated by the National Trust of South Australia in the Cleve Old Council Chambers, open by appointment | |
Adelaide Hills | Historic house | Former summer residence of the Governors of South Australia | ||
Old Timers Mine and Museum | Mining | website, opal mining | ||
Historic house | website, operated by the National Trust of South Australia, 1880s period house with a working orangery and olive trees | |||
Onkaparinga Woollen Mill Museum | Adelaide Hills | Textile | website | |
Parndana Soldier Settlement Museum | Local history | information, history of the soldier settlement scheme on the island after World War II | ||
Penneshaw Maritime and Folk Museum | Local history | website, operated by the National Trust of South Australia | ||
Peterborough Motorcycle and Antique Museum | Transportation | website, rare and interesting motorcycles and artefacts | ||
Polish Hill River Church Museum | Ethnic | website, contribution of Polish migrants to the development of the State | ||
Port Elliot National Trust Historic Railway and Seaport Centre | Fleurieu Peninsula | Railway | website, operated by the National Trust of South Australia | |
Railway | website | |||
Port MacDonnell and District Museum | Limestone Coast | Local history | website | |
Port Milang Museum | Local history | information | ||
Port Pirie Historic and Folk Museum | Mining | website, operated by the National Trust of South Australia | ||
Port Pirie Regional Art Gallery | Art | website | ||
Port Pirie RSL & Military Museum | Military | website | ||
Maritime | Sailing ships, sailing crews, shipwrecks | |||
Prospect Hill Historical Museum | Adelaide Hills | Local history | information | |
Radium Hill Museum | Local history | information, history of Radium Hill uranium mine | ||
Ray Robinson Memorial Military Museum | Yorke Peninsula | Military | information | |
Prison | website, operated by the National Trust of South Australia, mid 19th century prison | |||
Riddoch Art Gallery | Art | website | ||
River Dolls of Goolwa | Fleurieu Peninsula | Toy | website, dolls, bears and toys from 20th century | |
R.M. Williams Outback Heritage Museum | Adelaide suburbs | Biographical | website, life of R. M. Williams and products of his company | |
Robe Customs House | Limestone Coast | Local history | website, operated by the National Trust of South Australia | |
Roseworthy Agricultural Museum | Adelaide suburbs | Agriculture | website, history and the development of agricultural machinery, much of which was invented in South Australia | |
The Round House | Murray Bridge | Murraylands | Local history | Homestead museum documenting the early development of the town of Murray Bridge. |
Ruston's Classic Car Museum | Riverland | Automotive | website, vintage and historic racing cars | |
Adelaide | Adelaide | Art | Part of the University of South Australia, contemporary art | |
Sansouci Puppet Museum and Gallery | Puppetry | information, puppets, marionettes and ventriloquist dolls | ||
Adelaide | Natural history | website, part of Adelaide Botanic Garden, botanical specimens and art | ||
Sheep's Back Museum | Limestone Coast | Farming | website, sheep raising and the wool industry, operated by the National Trust of South Australia | |
Port Adelaide | Adelaide suburbs | Aerospace | Displays aircraft and aircraft engines of relevance to South Australia | |
Port Adelaide | Adelaide suburbs | Maritime | Immigration to South Australia, maritime history, fleet of historic ships | |
South Australian Whale Centre | Natural history | website, whales and regional marine life | ||
Adelaide | Adelaide | Natural history | Natural history museum and research institution | |
South Australia Police Historical Society | Adelaide suburbs | Law enforcement | History of South Australia Police and of law enforcement in South Australia | |
South Coast Regional Arts Centre | Fleurieu Peninsula | Art | website | |
Adelaide Hills | Historic house | Operated by the National Trust of South Australia, 1940s house with camellia gardens | ||
Stansbury Museum | Local history | website, 1910 period rooms, collections of clothing, gemstones, bottles, shells and dolls, farming, industry | ||
Adelaide Hills | Railway | Heritage railway using broad gauge steam locomotives | ||
Railway | ||||
Strathalbyn and District Heritage Centre | Fleurieu Peninsula | Local history | website, 19th century police station and courthouse with Victorian period rooms | |
Streaky Bay Museum | Local history | website, operated by the National Trust of South Australia | ||
St John Ambulance Historical Society of South Australia | Adelaide suburbs | Medical | information | |
Swan Reach Museum | Local history | information | ||
Tailem Rail Museum | Railway | information | ||
Adelaide suburbs | Local history | website, operated by the National Trust of South Australia, a member of National Trust of South Australia, lifestyles of residents in the Tea Tree Gully area from the 1850s to 1950s, (name change in 2015 from Old Highercombe Hotel Museum), Accredited museum in History Trust of SA's Museums and Collections (MaC) program. | ||
Tate Museum | Adelaide | Adelaide | Natural History | Extensive collection of Geological and Paleontological samples collected since 1880. Named after Ralph Tate. Information. |
Adelaide | Adelaide | Arts | Specialises in Indigenous Australian art including visual art, music and storytelling | |
Terowie Pioneer Gallery and Museums | Terowie | Mid North | Local history | information |
Adelaide suburbs | Railway | Large collection of trams, some of which are used to carry visitors to the St Kilda Adventure Playground. | ||
Tumby Bay Branch Museum | Local history | website, operated by the National Trust of South Australia | ||
Ukrainian Museum (Australia) | Adelaide suburbs | Ethnic | information, Ukrainian history and artisan traditions | |
Adelaide suburbs | Education | information | ||
Umoona Opal Mine and Museum | Mining | website, opal mining, fossils, aboriginal heritage, dugout homes | ||
Adelaide suburbs | Local history | website | ||
Urlwin Park Agricultural Museum | Agriculture | information, farm tractors, equipment, tools, vehicles, buildings | ||
Adelaide suburbs | Historic house | Operated by the University of Adelaide, late 19th century mansion | ||
Wallaroo Heritage and Nautical Museum | Local history | website, operated by the National Trust of South Australia | ||
Willunga Courthouse Museum | Adelaide suburbs | Law enforcement | website, operated by the National Trust of South Australia, courthouse complex including cells, stable and police residence | |
Willunga Slate Museum | Adelaide suburbs | Mining | website, operated by the National Trust of South Australia, located in the Courthouse Museum stables, area slate mining | |
Winn's Bakehouse | Adelaide suburbs | Local history | website, operated by the National Trust of South Australia | |
Whyalla Maritime Museum | Maritime | website, includes the landlocked HMAS Whyalla (J153), a Bathurst class corvette museum ship | ||
Yankalilla District Historical Museum | Fleurieu Peninsula | Local history | information | |
Wantok Place | North Adelaide | Adelaide | Artefacts | Papua New Guinea artefacts, owned by the Lutheran Church of Australia |