Museum of Old and New Art

The World’s Best Museum Nobody Expected to Be in Tasmania

David Walsh is a professional gambler who turned a winning streak into a private art collection, then carved that collection three storeys into a sandstone cliff above the Derwent River. The result, MONA (Museum of Old and New Art), opened in 2011 and promptly made Hobart a destination city for the first time in its history. That alone tells you something about what you’re walking into.

Most art museums want you to understand the work. MONA wants to unsettle you. Walsh has said explicitly that he curated the collection to explore sex and death, and he means it. You will walk past ancient Egyptian mummies and arrive almost immediately at a piece that makes you uncomfortable, and that discomfort is the point. If you come looking for soothing landscapes and tasteful bronzes, you are in the wrong building.

Getting There

The standard approach is the MONA ROMA, a high-speed catamaran that leaves Brooke Street Pier on Hobart’s waterfront. The return ticket costs around AUD $30, and the ride takes about 25 minutes. It is genuinely worth doing rather than just driving, partly for the scenery along the Derwent and partly because arriving by boat, stepping off onto the Berriedale peninsula with the museum’s entrance cut into the rock face ahead of you, gets the experience off to the right start.

If you are staying at the MONA Pavilions, you can walk directly to the entrance. Everyone else: park or take the ferry.

Admission and Practical Notes

Adult entry for non-Tasmanians costs AUD $39. Under-12s are free. Tasmanian residents pay AUD $5 (with ID). Book ahead online, especially on weekends. The museum opens Thursday to Monday, 10am to 5pm, and is closed Tuesday and Wednesday.

Plan three to five hours minimum. The place is vast, largely underground, and deliberately disorienting. There are steep stairs and narrow corridors. Wear shoes you can walk in, not the ones you chose to look good in.

Download the O app before you arrive. It uses sensors throughout the building to tell you exactly where you are in the dark and gives you information on nearby works: short descriptions if you want them, long essays if you want to go deeper, or a simple “art wank” button to skip interpretation entirely. The app replaces the traditional wall label with something far more interesting.

The Collection

The building holds roughly 3,000 works across the three underground levels, including ancient Roman glassware, Tasmanian Aboriginal artifacts, works by Sidney Nolan and Wim Delvoye, and large-scale installations that were purpose-built for the space. What most guides do not mention is that MONA has substantial holdings in ancient Egyptian art, one of the more serious such collections in the Southern Hemisphere, which Walsh assembled long before the museum opened. The juxtaposition of 3,000-year-old funerary objects with contemporary provocation is exactly the kind of thing the building was designed to force you to confront.

The rotating exhibitions tend to be ambitious and occasionally polarising, which is part of the design. Dark Mofo, MONA’s midwinter festival (typically held in June), extends the museum’s programming into the city with outdoor events, performances, and installations. If you can time your visit to coincide, it is worth planning around.

Where to Eat at MONA

The Source Restaurant sits above the estate with glass walls overlooking the vineyard and river. It serves contemporary Tasmanian food with a strong focus on seasonal local produce: think saltwater fish from the island’s east coast, Huon Valley vegetables, and a wine list built almost entirely around Moorilla Estate’s own bottles. Lunch runs from around AUD $40-60 per person without wine. It is one of the better meals you will have in Hobart, not just one of the better meals at a museum.

Faro Bar and Restaurant is the more casual option: a glass pavilion with small plates, creative cocktails, and an atmosphere that leans into the museum’s broader aesthetic. Open for dinner on Fridays and Saturdays. If you are looking for a late afternoon drink after the collection, start here rather than heading back to the city.

The Moorilla Wine Bar lets you sit with a glass of estate wine and decompress after the intensity of the galleries. Do not skip it if you have time. The pinot noir in particular is serious.

In Hobart proper, a few options worth knowing: The Fish Frenzy on Constitution Dock does straightforward, well-sourced seafood and is better than the setting suggests. Franklin, in the city centre near Princes Square, is one of Hobart’s more considered restaurants, focused on wood-fire cooking and local producers. It is worth booking.

Where to Stay

The eight MONA Pavilions on the Berriedale peninsula are genuinely excellent and genuinely expensive (from around AUD $481 per night). Each one is designed differently, with original artworks by Walsh’s chosen artists, bespoke Tasmanian furniture, and views across the estate. Guests get complimentary breakfast at The Source and a Moorilla wine tasting. Worth it for a special trip; probably one night is enough.

In Hobart’s CBD, the Henry Jones Art Hotel on Hunter Street occupies a converted jam factory on the waterfront. It has been here long enough to feel like part of the city’s fabric rather than a boutique hotel trying to seem interesting. Rooms start around AUD $200 per night. MACq 01, a few hundred metres away on the same waterfront strip, is newer and has the edge on views.

Exploring Beyond MONA

The Tasman Peninsula, about an hour south of Hobart, holds Port Arthur Historic Site, where the convict penitentiary and its setting on the water make for a genuinely affecting few hours, particularly if you know the history of the place. It also has the Tasman Arch and the Blowhole along the coast, and the drive itself is worth doing.

Closer to Hobart, Salamanca Place on Saturdays runs a serious market (not a tourist trap, actually a market where locals shop) with Tasmanian produce, cheese, small goods, and craft. Sullivan’s Cove around it has the best concentration of cafes and bars in the city. Battery Point, the neighbourhood behind Salamanca, is one of the better-preserved early colonial streetscapes in Australia, with sandstone cottages and narrow lanes that predate most of what else exists in the city.

The Cascade Brewery, Tasmania’s oldest, is a short drive or a long walk south from the CBD. The tours are solid, the setting in the foothills of kunanyi (Mount Wellington) is good, and the beer is better than you expect.

One More Thing

If you come in expecting a normal museum day out, you will have a confused afternoon. MONA is best approached as something between an art experience, a provocation, and a very expensive personal statement by one of the more interesting people in contemporary collecting. Go without a fixed agenda, turn the O app on, and let the building take you somewhere strange. That is exactly what it was built to do.