Gold Treasury Museum

More About Gold Treasury Museum

The Old Treasury is regarded as one of the finest public buildings in Australia. Restored and opened to the public as a museum in 1994, the Gold Treasury Museum provides an ideal orientation to Melbourne for visitors wishing to understand and explore the city's history, architecture, art and contemporary life.

The outstanding attraction of the building is the evocative gold vaults housing a dynamic contemporary exhibition "built on gold".

The Old Treasury was designed by a nineteen year old architect J J Clark and is a reflection of the vision that Melburnians of the 1850s gold rush era had for their future city.

As well as being built to store the colony's gold, the Old Treasury provided offices for the leaders of the young colony. The Governor, the Premier, the Treasurer and the Auditor General all had offices within the magnificent Old Treasury.

Whilst the building is now a public museum, the Old Treasury continues its unbroken history of governance in the affairs of the state. The Governor of Victoria continues to meet weekly with the Executive Council to sign off legislation in the magnificent Executive Council Chamber situated on the first floor.

The Gold Treasury Museum houses three permanent exhibitions ("built on gold", "melbourne: a city built on gold", "growing up in old treasury") and a rotating program of temporary exhibitions. A comprehensive educational program is offered.

The Gold Treasury Museum allows visitors to absorb the full spirit of Melbourne under the one roof.