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Indicator: NCH-04 Process of listing, area and distribution of significant heritage objects

Data

Number of Museum Objects and Artworks
Australia - 2003-04

	Employment size
	Nil	1-19 persons	20 or more persons	Total
Museum objects/artworks	2 779 000	5 984 200	46 152 300	54 915 500
On display for public viewing (%)	61.1	38.3	2.9	9.7
Accessible to the public on-line (%)	1.3	6.4	13.1	11.8
Documented or recorded in manual/written form (%)	55.5	45.0	72.7	68.8
Documented or recorded in electronic form or on computer (%)	17.6	25.2	41.9	38.8

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2005, Museums Australia 2003-04, viewed 23 Mar 2006, http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/
subscriber.nsf/Lookup/D4CDAABA966DC2CACA25700D00762129/$File/85600_2003-04.pdf, p.12.

What the data mean

There are a total of 54.9 million objects and artworks held by museums in Australia. Less than 10% of these objects and artworks are on display for public viewing. The number of objects and artworks accessible to the public on-line are slightly more in number (12%).

Of this vast collection of objects and artworks, only 69% have been documented or recorded in manual or written form and 39% are documented or recorded in electronic form or on computer.

Larger museums, which hold the vast majority (84%) of objects, have on display only 3% of their collections while the smaller museums with no employees have nearly two-thirds of their collections on display. The level of documentation is lower in the smaller museums compared to the larger ones.

Data Limitations

It is not possible to compare the data presented here with data collected in a similar survey of museums/art galleries in 1999-2000 due to significant changes in scope of these institutions in the period between the two surveys.

Issues for which this is an indicator and why

Natural and Cultural Heritage — Knowledge of heritage - Listing processes, number and distribution of identified heritage items (places and objects) 

This indicator is a proxy for our knowledge of Australia’s heritage. As we understand and study heritage places more, new places and items are assessed and included on protective statutory lists. This indicator provides some limited trend information on how many heritage items are listed for protection for the Register of the National Estate, but not as yet for the new lists.

Other indicators for this issue:

• NCH-01 Process of listing, area and distribution of identified natural heritage places 
• NCH-02 Process of listing, area and distribution of Indigenous heritage listings 
• NCH-03 Process of listing, area and distribution of identified historic heritage places 
• IW-34 Examples of deterioration of condition of wetland vegetation 
• BD-02 Conservation status of nationally significant species and ecological communities, compared with previous years 
• BD-04 Listed threatened species or ecological communities for which recovery action is showing stable or increasing populations 
• BD-07 Examples of Indigenous knowledge of species and ecological communities and their utilisation for management by Indigenous and non-Indigenous managers and for other purposes by Indigenous and non-Indigenous people 
• IW-10 Assessment of river condition indices 

Further Information

• Museums Australia