Museum of Perth

What Museum of Perth does

Museum of Perth is a Perth-based non-profit cultural institution founded in 2015 that chronicles the social, cultural, political, and architectural history of Perth and Western Australia. The organization operates from a single physical site at Level 1, 410 Murray Street, Perth, with free entry and operating hours of Monday to Saturday 10:00am to 4:00pm. Its core activities encompass rotating and permanent museum exhibitions, archival digitization, and historical site management (including Bassendean Pensioner Guard Cottage, Sloan's Cottage, London Court Books, and London Court Flats).

The museum's revenue model is hybrid and non-profit in structure. Primary income streams are donations from visitors (free entry is the standard), shop sales including publications such as 'A Signaller's Story', and professional services revenue from contract digitization projects for institutional clients. Notable contract clients include Cooperative Bulk Handling (CBH) for digitization of nearly 15,000 photographs and slides, Newman College (managing an archive of approximately 20,000 alumni records across 9 antecedent schools), RAC Archives, and Art Deco Society WA Archives. The museum also operates a travelling exhibition program, exemplified by the Gnarla Boodja Mili Mili (Our Country on Paper) exhibition delivering Noongar cultural site documentation across metropolitan Perth libraries and schools in partnership with the WA Department of Local Government, Sport & Cultural Industries.

The organization is supported by a small team of 24 staff and volunteers, led by Executive Director Reece Harley and Archivist, Curator and Historian Shannon Lovelady. The technology stack is centered on digitization and archival preservation, with proprietary databases for alumni records and photographic metadata enabling searchable, click-and-drag retrieval. Distribution channels include the physical museum, travelling exhibitions, digital archives online, and a 9,700+ Facebook following. The museum acknowledges the Wadjuk people of the Noongar Nation in its formal operations.

Name

Museum of Perth

Legal name

Museum of Perth

Website

https://museumofperth.com.au

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Museum of Perth is a non-profit cultural institution that chronicles the social, cultural, political, and architectural history of Perth through exhibitions, archival digitization services, and heritage site management, serving general public visitors, institutional clients, and partner organizations across Western Australia.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Local History Museum and Cultural Heritage Services

NAICS

Museums (712110), Historical Sites (712120), Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (712)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Cultural Heritage Institutions (Archives, Historic Houses, Monuments Foundations) (THAJADAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

History Museums (THAJADAB), Museums & Heritage Sites (History, Science, Specialty) (BPAGAHAA)

Keywords

• Cultural heritage museum
• Local history archives
• Heritage site interpretation
• Community exhibitions
• Museum educational programming

Headquarters

HQ city

Perth

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations: Museum operates on a free entry basis with donations welcome from visitors and supporters.
2. Shop Sales: The museum operates a shop selling merchandise and publications including books like 'A Signaller's Story'.
3. Contract Services: Museum engaged by Cooperative Bulk Handling to digitize their Photographic Collection for preservation, ease of retrieval and future use.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The Museum of Perth is a non-profit civic museum that curates and presents exhibitions, archives, and heritage sites chronicling the social, cultural, political, and architectural history of Perth, Western Australia. It operates a physical museum with free general admission, maintains multiple archival collections, and manages several heritage properties, funded primarily through donations, grants, sponsorships, and shop sales.

Product overview

Museum of Perth is a cultural institution that chronicles the social, cultural, political and architectural history of Perth and Western Australia. The organization operates primarily as a physical museum with a digital presence, offering rotating and permanent exhibitions at its Perth city location. Its core offerings include managing multiple archival collections (Newman College Archives, RAC Archives, Cooperative Bulk Handling Photographic Archive, Art Deco Society WA Archives), providing family history research services, publishing historical books like 'A Signaller's Story', and operating travelling exhibitions such as 'Gnarla Boodja Mili Mili'. The museum also maintains historical sites including Bassendean Pensioner Guard Cottage and Sloan's Cottage.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Museum Exhibitions (Permanent and Temporary) Curated permanent and temporary exhibitions chronicling the social, cultural, political, and architectural history of Perth, Western Australia, presented to the general public with free admission.
• Archival Collections and Research Services Multiple on-site archives of Perth-related historical material, accessed by researchers, students, and historians for local history research and reference.
• Heritage Site Management and Interpretation Management and public interpretation of multiple heritage sites in Perth, providing visitors with interpretive access to historically significant locations.
• Community and Educational Programming Educational and community engagement programming for schools, families, and local groups, supporting learning about Perth's history.
• Museum Shop On-site retail outlet selling museum-related merchandise and gifts to visitors, contributing to non-donation revenue.

Quantifiable outcome

• Nearly 15,000 photographs digitized for Cooperative Bulk Handling
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• West Australian Department of Local Government, Sport & Cultural IndustriescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 29 June 2020Museum of Perth partnered with the Department to deliver the travelling exhibition 'Gnarla Boodja Mili Mili (Our Country on Paper)' showcasing more than 30 significant Noongar cultural sites. The Department created an online interactive map while Museum of Perth delivers exhibition panels that tour metropolitan Perth.
• Cooperative Bulk Handling (CBH)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMuseum of Perth engaged by CBH to digitize their Photographic Collection of nearly 15,000 photographs and slides for preservation, ease of retrieval and future use. CBH is Australia's largest cooperative and one of the country's largest agricultural businesses.
• Newman CollegecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMuseum of Perth manages the Newman College Archives, which preserves the history of Newman College and its 9 antecedent schools (1913-1982). Archives established August 2020 by Archivist Shannon Lovelady and team.
• RAC ArchivesmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMuseum of Perth manages the RAC Archives, preserving the history of the Royal Automobile Club of Western Australia.
• Art Deco Society WA ArchivesmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMuseum of Perth manages the Art Deco Society WA Archives, preserving Art Deco heritage in Western Australia.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Regional players

• Perth Cultural Centre: Perth precinct bringing together cultural institutions including the Art Gallery of WA, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, and WA Museum Boola Bardip. Comparable as a Perth-based cultural destination and tourism hub, though operates as an aggregator rather than a single collecting institution.
• City of Perth Library: Local government library service in Perth providing local history collections, heritage resources, and community programming. Comparable in local-history focus and Perth-specific community engagement, though not a museum in the traditional sense.

Others

• National Library of Australia (Trove): Federal library operating Trove, Australia's flagship digital archive aggregator for newspapers, photographs, and historical records. Comparable in providing online access to digitized heritage collections, though operates at national aggregator scale rather than as a single-site museum.

Broad incumbents

• Australian National Maritime Museum: Federal maritime museum with collections, exhibitions, and heritage vessel management. Comparable as a specialty museum with permanent and travelling exhibitions, though nationally focused rather than Perth-specific.
• Australian Museum: Australia's oldest museum in Sydney, operating natural history and cultural exhibitions with research and digitization programs. Comparable as a museum with active digitization initiatives and heritage interpretation, though at significantly larger scale.
• Powerhouse Museum (Sydney): Major Sydney museum focused on science, design, and social history with permanent and travelling exhibitions. Comparable in chronicling social history and managing industrial/corporate heritage collections, though at national scale with significantly larger resources.
• State Library of Western Australia: Major state library and archival institution in Perth preserving Western Australian documentary heritage, photographs, and oral histories. Directly comparable in archival preservation mission and use of digitized collections, but operates at much larger state-funded scale.
• Western Australian Museum: State-level museum organization operating multiple sites (Perth, Boola Bardip, Maritime, Shipwrecks) across Western Australia. Comparable as a public-facing heritage institution serving the same Perth audience, but with substantially greater scale, government funding, and collection breadth.
• Art Gallery of Western Australia: State art museum in Perth presenting visual arts collections and exhibitions. Comparable as a Perth-based cultural institution competing for the same tourism, government funding, and visitor mindshare, though focused on art rather than social history.
• National Archives of Australia: Federal institution responsible for preserving Australian government and historical records. Comparable in archival digitization, metadata management, and researcher access services, but with national scope and substantially larger resources.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses3 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/museumofperth
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/museum-of-perth

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Subsidiaries8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Museum of Perth