Fluorite on quartz, Hunan Province, China.

Minerals Heritage Museum

Display location:
Queensland Museum
Southbank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
(Mezzanine Floor)

Display Hours:
Open daily from 9.30am - 5.00pm. Closed Good Friday, Christmas Day & Boxing Day. Open ANZAC Day from 1.30 pm.

General admission: Free.

Our collection
Recent acquisitions
Collection highlights
The future

Our collection
Recent acquisitions
Collection highlights
The future

If you read the aims of the Minerals Heritage Museum, you will see that from the very outset the trustees of the Minerals Heritage Museum wanted our minerals and mineral display to be a celebration of the beauty of minerals. 

We are not a large organisation with full-time staff or resources at our disposal. So we have had to be very frugal with our funds, and to call upon favours from many people and organisations to get to where we are today. The Mineralogical Society of Queensland has made a number of grants towards running costs and particular projects, including this website.

Early on we established criteria for what our collection might look like, and what specimens we should strive to acquire. Our collection has grown via purchases and donations. If we purchase a specimen, we strive to have an aesthetic, scientific, educational or heritage value attached to it. We often fundraise just to acquire a particular specimen. We give particular emphasis on specimens from Australian localities, although this is sometimes difficult, as, as well as being rare, they can often command premium prices on the market. We are especially indebted to donors, such as Bob Bryan, Roger Staley, George Stacey, Ron Young and Caleb Yue for generously giving their own wonderful specimens to our collection.

Specimens from the MHM collection in storage.

We now have over 700 specimens in our collection, as well as many on permanent loan that enhance our display. To set those specimens that are on display in context, we have roughly grouped them into cabinets and shelves showing: Diversity of composition; Diversity of crystal form; Collecting minerals; Australian minerals; Overseas minerals; Quartz group minerals and Gem minerals.

With mining now providing such a huge proportion of Australia's wealth, as well as these mineral treasures, we believe that it is time for them to step up and play their part in preserving Australia's mineral heritage, and we hope that they will in turn support us.

~ Preserving Australia's Mineral Heritage ~
Copyright MHM 2015 - The Minerals Heritage Museum is a not-for-profit institution based in Brisbane.