National Museum of Australia's Discovery Centre open for free to mark first birthday

"That's an average of 180 people a day. It's been very well-received," the centre's manager Carlie Walker said.

"Something I really loved is seeing the community that has built up around it.

"There are parents and carers who come every week with their children to use the centre and participate in our regular programs like story time.

"It's been really, really lovely."

The museum is celebrating its birthday with free admission all day on Saturday.

The $9 million Tim and Gina Fairfax Centre opened a year ago as a place for children from birth to six to play and learn.

It also has adjacent workshop space for programs that run up to teen years.

There is an entry fee for adults and children but entry is free with a Friend of the Museum membership, which means families are using it like their local park or playground.

One mum from Kambah in the south said she and her friend from Casey in the north liked to meet in the middle at the Discovery Centre.

"I can bring my four-month-old and she can bring her two-year-old and both have something to do," she said.

That's music to the ears of Carlie Walker.

"Some parents say, 'Oh, yes, it's like a second home'. And that is exactly what we hoped it would be," she said.

Ms Walker said the centre also prided itself on providing activities and interests for very young babies, whether that was the interactive fish beamed on to the floor or the soft mats to tumble on.

"I think people forget you need to cater for babies," she said.

The centre has story time on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10.30am during the school term and a quiet hour on the first Tuesday of the month from 3.30pm to 4.45pm when the lights and noises are turned down.

Another part of the first birthday celebrations was a new painting that will be on display on Saturday, created by 100 children and their adult carers in response to the picture book, The Bunyip and the Stars.

The story, written by Adam Duncan and illustrated by Paul Lalo, is the first in a series of five picture books associated with the Discovery Centre.

Adam finalised the piece, "contributing visual elements drawing on his Biripi identity, evoking the mystery of the bunyip's deep billabong, magic of the constellations mentioned in the story and the impact of Ngariin's journey including the way she changed Sky Country".

And, in good news for all parents and carers, the coffee cart located just outside the Discovery Centre is open for business again in spring.

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