The
Australian Museum is the oldest
museum in
Australia, with an international reputation in the fields of
natural history and
anthropology. It was first conceived and developed along the contemporary European model of an encyclopaedic warehouse of cultural and natural history and features collections of
vertebrate and
invertebrate zoology, as well as
mineralogy,
palaeontology and
anthropology. Apart from exhibitions, the museum is also involved in indigenous studies research and community programs. In the museum's early years, collecting was its main priority, and specimens were commonly traded with British and other European institutions. The scientific stature of the museum was established under the curatorship of
Gerard Krefft, himself a published scientist.