New National Research Collections Australia Precinct

The National Research Collections Australia is home to 15 million natural history specimens that are used by researchers, government and industry to describe, manage and benefit from Australia's rich biodiversity.

Our collections are located in Canberra, Hobart and Cairns.

Our new collections precinct in Canberra will include a new National Collections Building, jointly funded by CSIRO and the Department of Education, Skills and Employment through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS).

A new collections precinct in Canberra

Our collections precinct will co-locate four collections:

• Australian National Herbarium, including CSIRO's Dadswell Memorial Wood Collection
• Australian National Insect Collection
• Australian National Wildlife Collection
• Australian Tree Seed Centre.

The Australian National Herbarium and the Australian Tree Seed Centre are already located on the site of the new collections precinct. Their existing buildings are undergoing minor upgrades.

A new National Collections Building will accommodate the wildlife and insect collections, providing:

• modern storage facilities for our collections
• storage for ethanol-preserved specimens
• new molecular laboratories
• dedicated digitisation facilities.

Building works will commence in autumn 2022, with the project to be completed in the latter half of 2023.

Accessing our collections during the relocation

The Australian National Algae Culture Collection and Australian National Fish Collection in Hobart, Tasmania and the Australian Tropical Herbarium in Cairns, Queensland are not impacted by this process.

We expect minimal disruption to the operations of the Australian Tree Seed Centre and minor impacts to loans, students and visitors at the Australian National Herbarium.

The Australian National Insect Collection will move only a few hundred metres from its current location, however this involves significant disruptions to all activities as a result of relocating our 12 million specimens and associated research equipment. We anticipate visitors, loans in/out and enquiries that require access to the collection will be interrupted for 24 months. 

The Australian National Wildlife Collection will move a distance of around 10 kilometres from its current location. Physical access to our specimens for visitors and external researchers will be impacted during the relocation for around 24 months. We expect to be able to continue responding to requests for tissue grants, except while the freezers are being moved.