Macleay Museum

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The Macleay Museum in Sydney, Australia, is a natural history museum located on the main campus of the University of Sydney. The Macleay Museum gallery is now closed to the public in preparation for the opening of the new Chau Chak Wing Museum, scheduled for completion in late 2018.HistoryThe building in which the museum is housed was built off Science Lane in 1887. The collections of the Macleay Museum are based largely on the efforts and acquisitions of the Macleays, one of the pre-eminent families in colonial Sydney: Alexander Macleay, William Sharp Macleay and William John Macleay.CollectionThe strengths of the collection lie in entomology, ethnography, scientific instruments, and historic photographs. Many of the biological specimens in the collection represent rare or extinct species, while some of the specimens have historic and cultural value as they were collected by explorers like Charles Darwin and Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay.The George Masters Exhibition Space of the museum was devoted to temporary exhibitions. Overall, the museum houses one of the most important natural history and ethnography collections in Australia, surpassed in Sydney only by the Australian Museum.