The National Museum of Australia has unveiled a $34 million renovation, which includes a new environmental gallery and children’s play space.
More than a third of the Canberra museum has been upgraded in the biggest redevelopment since it opened to the public in 2001.
It comprises a children’s centre named for philanthropists Tim and Gina Fairfax, and the Great Southern Land environmental gallery.
On Thursday, musician Iva Davies performed his 1982 hit song Great Southern Land at a media preview ahead of the official opening.
The museum is displaying a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 synthesiser, the same model Davies used to write the song.
The band also announced a concert at the museum in November.
The Great Southern Land gallery incorporates stories of Australia’s first peoples and their 65,000-year relationship to the land.
It features more than 2,000 objects showing Australia’s ancient origins, geology, plant and animal species, natural environment, and the part humans play in the ecosystem, using interactive digital technology.
Stories of caring for country are woven through the exhibition, museum council member and Indigenous reference group chair Fiona Jose said.
“This new gallery shows how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge of this ancient continent is a heritage all Australians can draw on, and key to meeting our shared responsibility to heal and nourish the land,” she said.
The environmental gallery was designed by New York’s Local Projects, known for its work on the city’s National September 11 Memorial and Museum.
The two galleries are a major new offering for the public, according to National Museum director Mathew Trinca.
“This is a pivotal moment in the history of the National Museum, and I am thrilled to see the years of hard work and planning come to fruition,” he said.
The discovery centre, aimed at children aged up to six years, was developed with Australian design firm Arterial.
It tells five stories, such as that of Wambuwuny the grey kangaroo, Chris the sheep, and Gelam, the boy who transformed into a dugong in the Torres Strait.
Tickets to the Icehouse concert on November 4 go on sale Friday.
