Welcome to the ninth instalment of 'UQ by design', a 12-part Contact series celebrating the beauty and abundance of UQ's cultural assets. Join us each month as we take you on a virtual guided tour across UQ's three campuses, providing a brief overview of the pieces and where you can find them. This month, we look at our magnificent museums, located across each campus.
The University is home to several museums, of both historical and artistic significance, where you can while away an hour or a day.
Located in the James and Mary Emilia Mayne building at St Lucia, the UQ Art Museum’s collection is one of Queensland’s most significant public art collections and features more than 4,400 works of art. The Art Collection and the Art Museum’s ongoing creative program of exhibitions and events support and inform each other. The Art Collection speaks to the Art Museum’s distinct place within the University context, and engages with practices and ideas central to research and learning in their many forms.
The Anthropology Museum on Level 1 in the Michie building at UQ St Lucia cares for a significant collection of art and artefacts including contemporary Pacific and Australian Indigenous artwork, as well as around 6,500 photographs.
The RD Milns Antiquities Museum, also in the Michie building, but on Level 2, is home to the foremost collection of classical Mediterranean antiquities in Queensland, with objects spanning almost 3,500 years of history. Many items have been donated to the museum, including by Emeritus Professor Bob Milns AM, after whom the space is named.
The Physics Museum in the Parnell building at UQ St Lucia houses a collection of instruments, books and memorabilia dating back more than a century. It also hosts the world’s longest-running laboratory experiment, the Pitch Drop Experiment, which Professor Thomas Parnell (1881–1948) started in 1927.
Click on the photos below to reveal the full image
The UQ Art Museum. in the James and Mary Emelia Mayne building.
The UQ Art Museum. in the James and Mary Emelia Mayne building.
The Anthropology Museum at UQ St Lucia.
The Anthropology Museum at UQ St Lucia.
The RD Milns Antiquities Museum at UQ St Lucia.
The RD Milns Antiquities Museum at UQ St Lucia.
The Physics Museum at UQ St Lucia.
The Physics Museum at UQ St Lucia.
The Geology Museum at UQ St Lucia.
The Geology Museum at UQ St Lucia.
The Integrated Pathology Learning Centre at UQ Herston.
The Integrated Pathology Learning Centre at UQ Herston.
Morrison Hall at UQ Gatton, the home of the UQ Gatton Past Students Association Museum.
Morrison Hall at UQ Gatton, the home of the UQ Gatton Past Students Association Museum.
The Geology Museum on Level 2 of the Steele Building at UQ St Lucia is a permanent display of specimens from historic mines and mineral localities across Australia, and also showcases fine minerals from around the world.
Located in the Mayne Medical building at UQ Herston, the Marks-Hirschfeld Museum of Medical History contains around 5,000 items and 500 photographs – including paintings and drawings by accredited war artists, ornate furniture and other artpieces. Recent renovations ensure that the collection is integrated into the building itself with showcases built into the corridors of each floor.
In the UQ Health Sciences Building at UQ Herston is the Integrated Pathology Learning Centre (IPLC). The IPLC is dedicated to maintaining and developing UQ’s human pathology collection, ensuring its ongoing use in the study of disease, and promoting an understanding of health and disease. In total, the IPLC contains over 5000 specimens acquired over a 90-year period.
The UQ Gatton Museum in Morrison Hall at the Gatton campus holds memorabilia collected over 120 years by past students and staff – from photographs and furniture to trophies, artworks and historical publications.
The first diploma issued by Queensland Agricultural College – now UQ Gatton – in 1900, on display in the UQ Gatton Museum.
The first diploma issued by Queensland Agricultural College – now UQ Gatton – in 1900, on display in the UQ Gatton Museum.
Be sure to check back in next month, as Contact looks at UQ's random exhibitions that 'pop out of nowhere'.
Words and concept: Suzanne Parker
Artwork and design: James North
Photography: Anjanette Webb
Contributors: Jeremy Crowley
All artworks and artefacts mentioned in this series are located on UQ's St Lucia, Gatton and Herston campuses, and we acknowledge the Traditional Owners and their custodianship of the lands on which the University stands. We pay our respects to their Ancestors and their descendants, who continue cultural and spiritual connections to Country. We recognise their valuable contributions to Australian and global society.
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