The Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) Museum Collection is a social history collection with sport representing the underlying theme. It parallels the growth and development of Victoria with the Club formed in 1838, just three years after John Batman’s arrival to settle in the Port Phillip district.
The MCC Museum has evolved into one of the greatest sporting collections on the world stage from its origins as an informal collection of items retained by the club relating to its sporting and social events together with administration of the club and the MCG.
The collection was formalised, and displayed, with the donation of the Baer Collection in 1969. The MCC Museum, in 1998, was in the first group of institutions to receive accreditation through the Museums Accreditation programme (MAP), administered by Museums Australia (Victoria).
Collection strengths lie in its artworks with notable artists including colonial artists S.T. Gill and Henry Burn and portrait artist and one time President of the Royal Academy, Sir Martin Arthur Shee; decorative arts, particularly Stirling Silver and ceramics are well represented and date back to as early as 1745; photography; sports equipment including the ‘Blackham ball’ used in the first cricket defeat of England by Australia in 1882 and club and sporting administrative records.
