The Australian Sports Museum, Sports museum at Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia
The Australian Sports Museum is an exhibition at the Melbourne Cricket Ground displaying collections on cricket, Australian rules football, Olympic Games, tennis, rugby, soccer, basketball, and netball. The permanent exhibition is organized into thematic sections that present different aspects of Australian sporting history.
The Australian Gallery of Sport and Olympic Museum opened on 22 November 1986 in front of the MCC Members Stand built in 1928. It closed on 4 October 2003, drawing more than 35,000 visitors in its final week when entry was free. The National Sports Museum later closed in August 2019 for a $17.1 million redevelopment, $5 million of which came from the state government, and reopened in February 2020 as the Australian Sports Museum.
The museum holds the Australian Sports Hall of Fame and the Melbourne Cricket Club Museum, and since 6 October 2010 the Australian Racing Museum, which was absorbed into it, so horse racing sits alongside cricket, Australian rules football and Olympic sport. The adjoining MCC Museum covers the history of the Melbourne Cricket Club.
The museum sits inside the Melbourne Cricket Ground, so entry follows the stadium's gate arrangements rather than a separate street entrance. It closed in August 2019 for a $17.1 million redevelopment, $5 million of it from the state government, and reopened under its new name in February 2020. Allow time for the adjoining MCC Museum, which covers the Melbourne Cricket Club's history.
The museum absorbed the Australian Racing Museum on 6 October 2010, so horse racing now sits alongside cricket and football in the collection. Its predecessor, the Australian Gallery of Sport and Olympic Museum, drew more than 35,000 visitors in its final week in 2003, when entry was free with access to the old MCC Members Pavilion.
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