Annual report 2016–17 Roro headdress. Port Moresby, Central Province, Papua New Guinea, acquired 1923, on display in the Westpac Long Gallery. Photograph by Stuart Humphreys 2016–17 Annual report Australian Museum 1 William Street Sydney, NSW, 2010 Australia The Australian Museum Annual Report 2016–17 Minister is published by the Australian Museum Trust The Hon Don Harwin, MP 1 William Street Sydney NSW 2010 Minister for the Arts © Australian Museum Trust 2017 Governance ISSN 2206-8473 The Museum is governed by a Trust established under Acknowledgements the Australian Museum Trust Act 1975. The objectives Compiled by Amanda Farrar of the Australian Museum Trust Act are to propagate Design & Production by Trudi Fletcher knowledge about the natural environment of Australia and to increase that knowledge, particularly in the natural All images © Australian Museum unless otherwise sciences of biology, anthropology and geology. 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Contents Part 1: The year in review Corporate Resources, Commercial & Finance Highlights 39 President’s report 3 Human Resources 39 Director & CEO’s report 5 Work Health & Safety 40 Revenue summary 8 Sustainability & Building Services 40 Highlights & snapshots 9 Security 40 ICT/Technology 40 Part 2: A year of celebration Finance 41 Celebrating 190 years 13 Commercial 41 Corporate strategic plan 16 Part 4: Financial statements Master Plan 17 Science & Education 18 Financial commentary 45 Part 4A – Financial statements, Part 3: Divisional achievements Australian Museum Trust 46 Part 4B – Financial statements, AMRI, Science & Learning Australian Museum Staff Agency 84 Highlights 23 Partnerships 23 Part 5: Appendices Citizen Science 24 Education 25 Appendix A Organisation chart 101 Collection digitisation & access 25 Appendix B Trustees of the Australian Museum 102 Lizard Island Research Station (LIRS) 26 Appendix C Executive & management group profiles 106 Appendix D Internal audit & risk management 111 Programs, Exhibitions & Cultural Collections Appendix E Credit card certification 112 Highlights 27 Appendix F Privacy & personal information 113 Visitation 28 Appendix G Digital information security 113 Programs 28 Appendix H Public access to information 114 New exhibitions & galleries 29 Appendix I Disability action plan 114 Touring exhibitions 30 Appendix J Cultural collections Collection conservation 32 community engagement 115 Archives, Library & Rare Books 32 Appendix K Grants 117 Cultural Collection management 32 Appendix L Publications by staff 122 Marketing, Communications & Development Appendix M Overseas travel 123 Highlights 35 Appendix N Recognising staff achievements 125 Media and publicity 36 Appendix O Fellowships & postgraduate awards 126 Social media 36 Appendix P Sustainability & energy management 127 Memberships 36 Appendix Q Waste reduction & recycling 128 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes 37 Appendix R Heritage management 128 Philanthropy 37 Appendix S Staff, workforce diversity & WHS 129 Partnerships 37 Appendix T Honorary appointments 132 Digital Experience 37 Appendix U Museum volunteers 133 Appendix V Key acquisitions & donations to the collections 134 Appendix W Benefactors & sponsors 136 Appendix X Related Party Disclosure 139 Appendix Y Consultants 140 Paradise Parrot (Psephotellus pulcherrimus), on display in the Westpac Long Gallery. Photograph by Stuart Humphreys PART 1 The year in review PART 1 The year in review 2 President’s report On 30 March 2017, the Australian Museum (AM), the new species of fauna and flora discovered globally. This nation’s first museum, celebrated its 190th anniversary. effort is extraordinary given the AM’s relative size to major Throughout its history, the AM has collected more than international scientific institutions. 18 million scientific specimens and cultural objects and As part of the 190th year celebrations, 20 AMRI built a world-renowned reputation of scholarly excellence. scientists and a number of citizen scientists undertook a Since opening its William Street home in the early 1850s, comprehensive survey of Lord Howe Island, including a full the AM has welcomed more than 34 million visitors to this scale climbing expedition on the world’s tallest volcanic historic site and helped educate more than five million remnant, Balls Pyramid. The climb was successful with school students through its education programs. AM AM scientists able to collect a live specimen of one of the scientists and researchers have discovered and described world’s rarest insects, the Lord Howe Island stick insect or tens of thousands of species, published thousands of phasmid (Dryococelus australis), to bring it to a breeding research papers and taken part in more than 100 program at the Melbourne Zoo. scientific expeditions. AM scientists have been surveying Lord Howe and the To mark this significant milestone, the AM has been able surrounding ocean since 1851. The AM led the 1973 to reflect on the significant contributions it has made to expedition contributing to the UNESCO World Heritage the understanding of our natural world. The Annual Report listing of the site. This year’s expedition benchmarks Lord outlines an impressive array of public programming, Howe’s native and introduced animal populations to help research and learning activities that celebrates the inform future biodiversity and pest eradication programs AM’s extraordinary 190 years and strengthens the AM’s for this precious site. reputation for the future. The AM continues to deliver educator-led school programs I particularly would like to thank the NSW Government for in alignment with the Australian curriculum. The AM their continued support of the Australian Museum and its connected with over 115,000 school students in 2016–17, significant role as an iconic and ground breaking scientific inspiring an interest in STEM learning, natural history and and cultural institution for NSW. culture through a variety of outreach programs, onsite education workshops and tours and the AM’s Science Science & Learning at the core Festival. One of the year’s highlights was undoubtedly the Immersive Exhibition experiences opportunity for the AM to bestow the AM’s highest honour, that of Lifetime Patron on the extraordinary Sir David More than 140,000 visitors experienced Spiders: Alive Attenborough. A special event was held at the AM to & Deadly developed by the AM with the support of celebrate Sir David’s international contribution to natural Questacon in Canberra. Utilising the scientific expertise science and to mark our 190th anniversary. of both institutions, the exhibition featured more than 200 real spider specimens from the AM’s extensive The Australian Museum Research Institute (AMRI) Arachnology Collection as well as 40 live exhibits. Through continues to lead the nation in biodiversity research augmented reality, visitors experienced the home of and discovery. This year AMRI scientists described a the ancient Tasmanian Cave Spider and gained a deep remarkable 209 new species representing over 1% of all understanding of the incredible world of spiders. 3 AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM Annual Report 2016-17 This year AMRI scientists described a remarkable 209 new species representing over 1% of all new species of fauna and flora discovered globally. This year the AM was able to finalise the