Dr Mathew Trinca AM FAHA has been the Director of the National Museum of Australia since February 2014. He is also presently a Commissioner for Culture and Olympic Heritage advising the International Olympic Committee, and former Chair of ICOM Australia.

Trinca has a Doctor of Philosophy (History) degree awarded by the University of Sydney and holds a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in History, from the University of Western Australia. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and was made a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2020 Australia Day Honours List for ‘significant service to the museums and galleries sector’.

Between 2016 and 2021 Trinca was the co-chair of the Australia Singapore Arts Group established by the Governments of both countries under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership signed in 2015. As Director of the NMA, Trinca has also negotiated key projects and ongoing relationships with museums in the Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America, established a strong domestic and international touring program and led redevelopment of the Museum’s public spaces and galleries.

Trinca has long advocated for greater collaboration between museums and the wider arts and cultural sector and is committed to representing the interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in museum around Australia and abroad. He also has research interests in Australian cultural history and environmental history, and in contemporary museum theory and practice.

Trinca began his career as a curator at the Western Australian Museum, in Perth, Western Australia, before moving to the National Museum of Australia in Canberra in 2003. He has co-edited two collections of essays on Australian history, Country: Visions of Land and People in Western Australia and Under Suspicion: Citizenship and Internment in Australia during the Second World War and has contributed regularly to scholarly and popular publications.