Australia Yearbook - 2001

502 Year Book Australia 2001
Memorial, the National Science and Technology
Centre (Questacon), and the National Portrait
Gallery. There are over 1,700 museums and art
museums operating in Australia.
An on-line national access program, Australian
Museums On Line (AMOL), has a database of
information on over 1,000 museums. The site
aims to offer access to information about every
item held in museums in Australia. AMOL is an
initiative of the Heritage Collections Council,
which coordinates national approaches to caring
for, and promoting access to, Australia’s heritage
collections. More detailed information on AMOL
is shown under the heading Multimedia in this
chapter.
Museums Australia, the peak industry association,
has a membership base comprising those who
work and contribute to Australia’s museums and
public galleries. The association’s primary role is
to advocate for the industry and provide a range
of professional services to its members. The
services are offered at a national, State and
interest group level, and include professional
development and training opportunities,
newsletters, advocacy and representation.
Museum and art museum
attendance
The Survey of Attendance at Selected
Culture/Leisure Venues, conducted by the ABS in
April 1999, revealed that 3.0 million people or
19.9% of the Australian population aged 15 and
over, had visited a museum at least once in the
previous 12 months. A total of 3.2 million people
(21.2% of the Australian population aged 15 and
over) had visited an art museum.
12.4 ATTENDANCE(a) AT MUSEUMS AND ART
MUSEUMS—1999
Museums Art museums
Attendees
’000
’000
Sex
Male 1 378.5 1 315.1
Female 1 596.9 1 844.7
Total 2 975.4 3 159.7
Age
15–24 years 541.7 564.4
25–34 years 588.1 584.5
35–44 years 719.5 627.4
45–54 years 529.3 639.7
55–64 years 309.4 369.6
65 years and over 287.3 374.1
Birthplace
Australian-born 2 245.3 2 348.7
Overseas-born 730.1 811.0
(a) Attendance in the 12 months prior to interview.
Source: Attendance at Selected Cultural Venues, April 1999
(4114.0).
Museums and art museums
industry
The ABS conducted a survey in respect of
1996–97 of employing businesses and
organisations whose main activity was the
provision of museum services to the public. Also
surveyed were the museum activities of local
government authorities, where their operations
had paid staff.
In total, there were 224 employing organisations
in the museums industry at 30 June 1997. These
organisations operated from a total of 352
locations. There were 69 local government
authorities which provided a museum service, a
further 32 organisations operated an art museum,
21 operated historic houses and 102 operated
other types of museums. More detailed
information from this survey is shown in
Chapter 21, Service industries.
12.5 SELECTED MUSEUMS, Key Aggregates—1997–98
Unit Art museums Historic places Other museums Total
Locations at end June 1998 no. 195 283 995 1 473
Admissions ’000 *5 010.0 2 158.5 6 116.6 13 285.1
Employment at end June 1998 no. 748 301 978 2 027
Volunteers during June 1998 no. 2 403 2 793 10 444 15 640
Income $m 38.3 *10.9 36.2 85.5
Expenses $m 35.4 8.0 33.1 76.5
Source: Selected Museums, Australia, 1997–98 (4145.0).