The Australian Museum of Performing Arts’ (AMPA) new exhibition, ENCORE! 50 Objects. 50 Years. One Collection., officially opened in Melbourne last week, bringing 50 extraordinary pieces of Australian performing arts history to Melbourne.
Running exclusively at Arts Centre Melbourne until May next year, ENCORE! offers a fascinating glimpse into a collection of more than 875,000 costumes, instruments, props, set models and photographs preserved by the Australian Performing Arts Collection.
And what a selection of objects they have chosen. There are the legendary gold hot pants worn by Kylie Minogue in the music video for Spinning Around, famously acquired for just 50 pence at a London flea market, and the gown Olivia Newton-John wore for a 1978 appearance on the ABC network in the US, watched by an audience of more than 30 million.
The exhibition brings together pieces worn by some of Australia’s most celebrated performers, including Hugh Jackman‘s costume from the 2006 The Boy from Oz arena tour and Joan Sutherland‘s black velvet gown from her 1965 performance of La Traviata alongside Luciano Pavarotti.
Then there’s Dame Nellie Melba‘s spectacular jewel-encrusted gold cloak, worn during a performance in St Petersburg in 1891 and so impressive that it earned praise from the Russian Tsarina.
Among the other treasures are Helen Reddy‘s Grammy Award for I Am Woman and Peter Allen‘s I Go to Rio maracas, objects that might look relatively humble at first glance, but carry enormous stories of Australian entertainment history.
And there are pieces that will transport you straight back to a particular moment in Australian pop culture.
The collection includes the Ossie Ostrich puppet from Hey Hey It’s Saturday, as well as the original neon-red L’Amour sign created by Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin for Opera Australia’s La Bohème. That distinctive design would go on to be referenced in their films, including Moulin Rouge!, Romeo + Juliet and Strictly Ballroom.
One of the exhibition’s most recent acquisitions also has a very different story. Midnight Oil drummer Rob Hirst‘s Ludwig drum kit was donated last year by the band’s fan group, the Powderworkers, after they crowdfunded to secure the beloved kit at auction.
Celebrating 50 years of AMPA as Australia’s largest repository of performing arts history, ENCORE! is ultimately about much more than preserving objects. Each piece carries a story, of an artist, a performance, a cultural moment or a piece of Australian history. It offers visitors the chance to reconnect with the people and performances that have helped shape our cultural landscape.
Spread across six distinct galleries, the exhibition begins with Time & Place, where a recorded performance by legendary Gunditjmara and Bundjalung singer-songwriter Archie Roach sets the scene.
International Icons celebrates Australians who have made their mark on the world stage, with a gold runway lined with elaborate costumes worn by artists whose influence has travelled far beyond our shores.
Spectacle on Stage turns the spotlight on the biggest and boldest productions, while Finding a Voice introduces groundbreaking artists who have built their work around their own identities.
Relics of Performance explores the sentimental souvenirs and talismanic keepsakes performers have treasured well beyond the final curtain call. Finally, Disruption celebrates the artists and moments that challenged convention, broke the mould and helped change Australian culture forever.
With such a vast collection to draw from, choosing just 50 objects was never going to be easy. Ian Jackson, Curator of Dance and Opera at the Australian Performing Arts Collection and lead curator of ENCORE!, said the team was looking for objects that could do more than simply look spectacular:
“We were looking for the objects that could tell the strongest stories, the ones with real history that spoke to what the performing arts can mean to people.”
That storytelling extends beyond the objects themselves, with the curatorial team taking particular care to make the exhibition accessible to younger visitors as well as adults. For children discovering these performers, productions and pieces of Australian entertainment history for the first time, ENCORE! offers a chance to see the real objects behind some very big stories.
And there couldn’t be a better time to visit Arts Centre Melbourne. To celebrate the reopening of the Ian Potter State Theatre following its major refurbishment, entry to ENCORE! will be free across 10 and 11 October 2026.
With everything from Kylie’s hot pants and Dame Nellie Melba’s cloak to Midnight Oil’s drum kit and Ossie Ostrich, ENCORE! promises a fascinating trip through five decades of Australian performing arts, and just a tiny glimpse into a collection of more than 875,000 stories waiting to be discovered.
If you’re in Melbourne, this is one collection worth exploring for yourself.
ENCORE! 50 Objects. 50 Years. One Collection is presented by Arts Centre Melbourne and is on now. It runs to 9 May 2027. Australian Museum of Performing Arts (AMPA), Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne.
Wednesday to Sunday, 10am–7pm. Open Mondays and Tuesdays during school holidays and public holidays.
Tickets are available here.
Website: https://www.artscentremelbourne.com.au/ampa/exhibitions/encore
Socials: https://www.instagram.com/artscentremelbourne/
Image credits: Installation view of ENCORE! at Australian Museum of Performing Arts, Arts Centre Melbourne. Photos by Eugene Hyland.
