As ground manager of the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) since 1853, the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) has continually strived to ensure that both the stadium’s unique sporting culture and heritage are enhanced and appreciated.
To that end, the club’s extensive collection of sporting artefacts was first put on display to the public on November 22, 1986 (exactly 30 years after the 1956 Olympic Games) with the opening of the Australian Gallery of Sport and Olympic Museum, adjacent to the MCC Members Pavilion.
In October, 2003 the “AGOS” building was demolished as part of the $450 million northern stand redevelopment of the MCG.
As reported at the time, a major feature of the redevelopment was to be the “relocation and expansion of the Australian Gallery of Sport as part of MCG City, a seven-day attraction featuring interactive devices and a museum precinct.”
It is this seven-day attraction that we now know as the National Sports Museum.
In April 2006, then Federal Treasurer Peter Costello announced a funding allocation of $15 million for the development of the National Sports Museum at the MCG. Twelve months later, Mr Costello pledged another $10 million, this time towards the development of “Stage 2” of the National Sports Museum.
This funding presented the MCC with a unique opportunity to expand the scope of MCG City into the National Sports Museum.
The brief was altered so that the National Sports Museum would incorporate all sports within Australia into its displays and temporary exhibitions, showcasing what Australian sportsmen and women have achieved on the world stage.
In June 2006, leading exhibition designer Cunningham Martyn Design was commissioned to design the new facility and the installation of the 2500 objects to be displayed commenced in October 2007. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, concept planning was already underway for “Stage 2”.
“Stage 1” was officially opened to the public by John Landy AC CVO MBE on Wednesday March 12, 2008.
Work on “Stage 2” continued while “Stage 1” of the National Sports Museum was open to visitors and various additional “Stage 2” galleries and large scale multimedia presentations were unveiled between July 2008 and March 2009.
The final piece in the jigsaw was the agreement reached with Racing Victoria in late-2009 that a thoroughbred racing gallery would be added to the National Sports Museum.
The associated “Stage 3” project was completed in October 2010 with the opening of the new Champions - Thoroughbred Racing Gallery.
More than 2660m2 of state-of-the-art gallery display space was designed, constructed and curated during the NSM project, in the process creating the largest multisport museum of its type in the world.