Coming Soon: Australia Is Getting a Dedicated Museum of Performing Arts, Opening in Melbourne in December 2025
Hamer Hall at Arts Centre Melbourne will welcome this celebration of the nation's performing arts legacy and successes, spanning everyone from Kylie Minogue and Hugh Jackman to the Australian Ballet.
For 50 years, Australia's contribution to music, theatre, opera, circus and dance has been catalogued and preserved, and sometimes exhibited, all thanks to the Australian Performing Arts Collection. At Arts Centre Melbourne, more than 850,000 objects sit within this repository, the nation's largest dedicated to hitting a stage. That's a collection worth putting on display permanently, even if every single item obviously can't always be in the spotlight. From December 2025, the new Australian Museum of Performing Arts at Hamer Hall will do just that — aka showcase the country's performing arts legacy, successes and history for the public to enjoy.
The new museum is launching in two phases in the Victorian capital: the first, arriving before this year is out, will span nearly 500 square metres, all devoted to performing arts exhibitions; then the second, which doesn't have a launch date as yet, will expand the space to around 800 square metres. AMPA will both put its own items on display and host touring international showcases. Which exhibition it'll open with in December is set to be revealed in September.
The Australian Performing Arts Collection truly is a treasure trove, featuring costumes and objects from the likes of Kylie Minogue, Hugh Jackman, Nick Cave, Peter Allen and Chrissy Amphlett, plus dames Nellie Melba, Joan Sutherland and Olivia Newton-John. The Australian Ballet, Circus Oz, Melbourne Theatre Company and Opera Australia are among the Aussie arts institutions also featured.
Again, while exactly what will be on display come December 2025 hasn't been revealed, the collection includes items such as Minogue's gold hot pants from the 'Spinning Around' music video, threads worn by Jackman in The Boy From Oz, Cave's visual journal aka the Handmade Book, maracas shaken by Allen, a tunic worn by Amphlett and the leather jacket of AC/DC lead singer Bon Scott. In addition, it boasts a Jean-Philippe Worth cloak donned by Melba in Lohengrin more than a century ago, a costume worn by Sutherland in 1972's Lucrezia Borgia for the Vancouver Opera, Helen Reddy's Grammy Award for 'I Am Woman', a set model for the Priscilla, Queen of the Desert stage musical — and much more.
Corset worn by Kylie Minogue, Intimate and Live tour, 1998. Designed by William Baker. Gift of Kylie Minogue, Cultural Gifts Program, 2004. Australian Performing Arts Collection, Arts Centre Melbourne. Photo: Narelle Wilson Photography.
Historically – and until AMPA opens — the collection's pieces are usually seen in Hamer Hall and the Theatres Building's foyer displays at Arts Centre Melbourne, the Australian Music Vault, on behind-the-scenes Collection Store Tours at Hamer Hall, and if they're on loan to other institutions.
"I'm so pleased to be bringing to life the long-held vision to make the riches of the Australian Performing Arts Collection more accessible to the Victorian community through new and expanded spaces," said Arts Centre Melbourne CEO Karen Quinlan.
"Through treasured objects, iconic performers and a rich theatrical legacy, AMPA will enable us to share with the world the incredible performing arts history and stories of the stages of Australia and beyond."
Photograph of band Divinyls performing at Subiaco Oval on Australian Made Tour, 1987. Photograph by Bob King. Gift of The Age, 1995. Australian Performing Arts Collection, Arts Centre Melbourne.
Costume worn by Hugh Jackman in The Boy from Oz, 2006. Designed by Roger Kirk. Gift of BFO Arena Pty Ltd, 2009. Donated in memory of Ben Gannon. Australian Performing Arts Collection, Arts Centre Melbourne. Photo: Narelle Wilson Photography.
Set model bus for Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Australian production, 2006. Designed by Brian Thomson. Gift of Brian Thomson, Cultural Gifts Program, 2015. Australian Performing Arts Collection, Arts Centre Melbourne. Photo: Narelle Wilson Photography.
Shoes worn by Dame Nellie Melba. Gift of Pamela, Lady Vestey, 1977. Australian Performing Arts Collection, Arts Centre Melbourne. Photo: Narelle Wilson Photography.
Photograph of Dale Woodbridge-Brown, TWENTYSIXTEEN, Circus Oz, 2016. Photograph by Rob Blackburn. Gift of Circus Oz, 2023. Australian Performing Arts Collection, Arts Centre Melbourne.
The Australian Museum of Performing Arts will open at Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne, 100 St Kilda Road, Southbank, in December 2025. Head to the venue's website for more details.
Renders: Scharp.
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