Grainger Museum
The Grainger Museum at the University of Melbourne is the only purpose-built autobiographical museum in Australia. It is home to a diverse collection of art, photographs, costumes, musical scores and instruments acquired by Percy Grainger.
In 2020 the Grainger Museum closed to public due to the global pandemic. During that time, it undertook a strategic review of the Museum’s activations and programs.
A new Grainger strategy is in development focusing on Research, Teaching and Learning and creative residencies for artists, academics, and students as well as reinstatement of original cabinets from 1938.
The forward program for the Museum will reflect Percy Grainger as a world-renowned composer, the heritage-listed Grainger Museum building, and the collection and archive.
From semester 2, 2022 the Museum will reinstate original cabinets from 1938 alongside a selection of curated objects from the Collection for visitors to engage with. The Museum and its Collection are still accessible for teaching, learning and research. Please contact: grainger@unimelb.edu.au
We look forward to sharing our program with you! Please sign up to e-news and social media for updates.
Upcoming Events
Past Exhibitions
Past Events
The Grainger Museum is the only purpose-built autobiographical museum in Australia.
Its fascinating collection contains not only objects directly related to Percy Grainger's compositional career, such as scores and manuscripts, but also more than 50,000 items, including diaries, ethnographic objects, furniture, decorative arts, photographs, artworks, clothing and correspondence with famous and not-so-famous contemporaries.
Grainger began planning the Museum after his mother's death in 1922 and it was officially opened in December 1938. The building was designed by the University's architect, John Gawler of the firm Gawler and Drummond, in close consultation with Grainger. The Museum's historical and architectural significance is recognised by the building's inclusion on the Register of the National Estate and the Victorian Heritage Register, and its classification by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria).
In 1955, Grainger set down his revised Aims of the Grainger Museum, outlining his 'cosmopolitan and universalist outlook on music'.
Parkville Campus
- Address
- Grainger Museum
Gate 13, Royal Parade
Parkville, Melbourne - grainger@unimelb.edu.au
- Postal Address
- Grainger Museum, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, 3010