Tasmanians can now visit Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) for free, after the museum scrapped the $5 deposit it previously charged locals.
Mona said the decision followed the opening of its new Phrontisterion library and a sharp rise in local visitation.
In the two weeks since the library opened, 6,000 Tasmanians have visited the museum, more than double the number over the same period last year.
Schools have also been booking in, with more than 600 children due to visit in the coming months.
Mona chief executive Philippa Holmes said the museum wanted to make return visits easier.
“We wanted to make it as easy as possible for Tasmanians to visit and revisit the museum, especially now that Phrontisterion is open,” she said.
“We’ve absolutely loved the support it’s received from locals … so we decided to remove the $5 deposit for all Tasmanians in time for the school holidays.”
Founder David Walsh linked the decision to his own childhood.
“My first library card was the great leveller, the thing that gave impoverished child-me a chance to seek,” he said.
“I wasn’t so impoverished at all, because I lived in a society that, despite its many failures, put libraries in suburbs, books in hands and opportunity within reach.”
Beyond the library, Mona is running Julian Charrière’s exhibition Hard Core until March 29, 2027, featuring glaciers, volcanoes and rock grinders.
Visitors can also step inside Charrière’s Breathe chamber, a permanent installation that releases oxygen trapped in iron ore for billions of years.
Tasmanians are still encouraged to pre-book timed-entry tickets to secure their preferred arrival time.
No booking fee applies if the order contains only free museum entry.
