Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Art museum and heritage site in Launceston, Australia.
The Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery occupies two sites in Launceston: Royal Park and the former Launceston Railway Workshops at Inveresk. Its collections cover colonial art, contemporary craft and design, Tasmanian history and natural sciences, including a zoology collection. A full Chinese temple used by 19th-century tin miners and a working planetarium are on display.
The foundation stone of the original building was laid on 21 June 1887 by Launceston mayor Robert Carter, and the museum opened in 1891. Alexander Morton served as honorary curator until 1896, and Herbert Hedley Scott became curator in May 1897. In 1926 the council changed the name to Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery to avoid confusion with the state of Victoria.
The museum holds a full Chinese temple used by 19th-century Chinese tin miners, a working planetarium, and displays on Launceston's industrial environment and railway workshops. It also houses the Victoria Cross awarded to Lewis McGee.
The museum has two sites: Royal Park, near the city centre, and Inveresk, at the former Launceston Railway Workshops. The Inveresk site lies at about 41.4280°S 147.1407°E. Plan to move between the two, since the collections are split across them.
The museum holds the Victoria Cross awarded to Lewis McGee, a Tasmanian-born soldier. It also displays a full Chinese temple used by 19th-century Chinese tin miners, a detail many visitors walk past.
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