Collab partners hold expansive digital collections and datasets – irreplaceable records that shape our knowledge of history and the natural and cultural world.  You can access an aggregated listing of all datasets at the bottom of the page or filter via the tags to your right.

South Australian Museum

For more than 150 years the South Australian Museum has been collecting, researching and sharing the stories of Australia’s unique natural and cultural heritage, and is today one of the most highly visited museums in the country. It cares for collections of national and international significance including the Australian Polar Collections, the Australian Biological Tissue Collection, and the Australian Helminthological Collection. The South Australian Museum is responsible for the most comprehensive collection of Australian Aboriginal cultural material in the world, and also has a strong reputation for research collections in the fields of Mineralogy and Paleontology.

The Museum’s archive is a national collection that documents the Museum’s history, research interest and exhibitions since 1800s and contributes to an understanding of Australian Aboriginal & world’s cultures, earth and biological sciences.

Over 500,000 records from the South Australian Museum’s biological collections can be accessed via the Atlas of Living Australia. A number of other collections can be accessed via the State Government data portal, these include the Australian Helminthological (Parasitic worms) Collection, the mineralogical collection and the meteorite collection. The Museum’s Archives catalogue can be viewed on the Museum’s website.

Note: At this time the catalogues for the Australian Aboriginal Cultures Collection, World Cultures Collection and Palaeontological Collection are not available online.

History Trust of South Australia

The History Trust of South Australia is a history and museums organisation that operates three museums – the Migration Museum, the National Motor Museum and the South Australian Maritime Museum and the Centre of Democracy in collaboration with the State Library of South Australia. The History Trust is caretaker of the State History Collection and ensures current and future generations can enjoy their state’s rich and fascinating past in ways that are relevant today.

The History Trust supports South Australia’s state-wide history network of committed community museums, local history organisations and volunteer associations to make South Australia’s history and large distributed collections more accessible both locally and globally.

History Trust collections are available to search and browse via a number of digital collections and exhibitions sites.

History Trust datasets can be viewed and accessed via the State Government data portal.

State Library of South Australia

The State Library of South Australia (SLSA) is the largest public reference library in the State. Its collection has a strong focus on information pertaining to South Australia as well as general reference material for research purposes. The Library actively collects, preserves and gives access to the State’s historical and contemporary documentary heritage, as well as providing public programs that enhance South Australia’s cultural life.

It also supports the South Australian public libraries network and cooperates with other State and interstate agencies to enhance economic, educational and social benefits for South Australia.

The State Library’s digital collections are available to browser via their digital collections site.

The State Library’s datasets can be viewed via the State Government data portal.

Art Gallery of South Australia

The Art Gallery of South Australia has one of the largest art museum collections in the country numbering approximately 41,000 works of art from Australia, Europe, North America and Asia. The collections feature paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, photographs, textiles, ceramics, glass, metalwork, jewellery and furniture. The diverse Australian collection is a comprehensive survey of Australian art from colonial to contemporary – with a strong commitment to Aboriginal art, while the European collection features Greek and Roman antiquities and works from the late fifteenth century up until present day. Also of particular note is the Asian collection, which is one of the most distinguished collections of its type in Australia.

The Art Gallery’s digital collections are available to browse via their digital collections site.

 

South Australian Museum Arachnology Collection

The Arachnology Collection at the South Australian Museum contains around 300,000 arachnids as well as many centipedes and millipedes (Myriapoda). Of these around 56,000 have been databased. Spider specimens make up the largest component, with some 200,000 specimens stored in alcohol. The Sparassidae (huntsman spiders) are particularly well represented in the collection with over 2000


South Australian Museum Herpetology Collection

Over 70,000 specimens have been registered in this collection, which has a particular emphasis on South Australian and arid zone fauna. A second major regional focus is Melanesia, especially the island of New Guinea (Papua New Guinea and Papua Province, Indonesia), with some 6,000 registered specimens. Most material is formalin-fixed and stored in 70% alcohol,


South Australian Museum Mammalogy Collection

There are over 24,000 specimens in this collection, including skulls, skins, skeletons, spirit specimens, photographs and frozen tissue. It includes over 1600 marine mammals and its comprehensiveness makes this collection the best of its kind in Australia. Other strengths of the collection include South Australian arid zone native mammals, many specimens of extinct species such


South Australian Museum Ornithology Collection

This section houses over 55,000 registered and 6,000 unregistered specimens including skins, eggs, skeletons, nests and spirit collections. It has an excellent collection of South Australian species, both historical and recent, a large collection of stomach contents, which is used to determine diets, and an Australia wide collection of eggs. The SA Museum manages this


South Australian Museum Ichthyology Collection

The South Australian Museum fish collection is comprised of over eleven thousand registered lots. The collection has a strong regional focus with freshwater fishes of southern and central Australia and Southern Ocean marine fishes, including deep-sea species, well represented. The SA Museum manages this dataset using the EMu collection management system. It is interpreted into