The Best Museums in Adelaide, Australia

Another one of North Terrace’s clutch of beautiful stone structures, the State Library pledges to “keep the memories of the state alive”. The idea of the institution was formed just a fortnight after the colony of South Australia came into being in the 1830s, and is still going strong nearly two centuries later as the largest public research library in the state, with a focus on South Australian research and reference material.

Located in an early colonial bluestone building behind the State Library of South Australia, this museum used to house a destitute asylum as well as a school for Indigenous children. These days it’s a social history museum tracing the immigration and settlement history of South Australia, telling the stories of the state’s migrant communities to promote multiculturalism and diversity.

Australian largest undercover railway museum is located in Port Adelaide, containing more than 100 exhibits tracing the history of Australia’s state, commonwealth and private railway operators. The museum first opened in 1970 and moved to its current site in 1988, giving visitors the opportunity to climb into the cabs of giant steam engines, stroll through elegant carriages, and learn a little about Australia’s long locomotive tradition.

Just across the road from the Railway Museum, the South Australian Maritime Museum inhabits a pair of picturesque 1850s bond stores, which contain an extensive collection of artefacts detailing the state’s nautical past. Explore the stories of the South Australian sea across three levels of interactive exhibits, as well as the historic Port Adelaide Lighthouse on the waterfront.

Adelaide’s finest Victorian home is open to the public six days a week, the last surviving mansion of the era on the southern side of North Terrace. Enjoy a glimpse of what life looked like for an upper-class family in the 19th Century by walking through the former house of Sir Henry Ayers, the premier of South Australia a record five times between 1863 and 1873.