[1] The inaugural meeting of the Australian Jazz Museum was held at the then Whitehorse Hotel, Melbourne, on Sunday 18 August 1996.

Approximately sixty invitees including representatives from Adelaide, Canberra and Sydney attended.

The museum also has as part of its charter the further development of its collection by saving recordings of jazz produced outside Australia, to be used as a reference source.

Its extensive collection includes discs, audio cassettes, posters, books, photographs, instruments and ephemera includes works by such Australian Jazz luminaries as Graeme Bell, Bob Barnard, Ade Monsbourgh, Smacka Fitzgibbon and Frank Traynor together with magazines, periodicals and newspaper articles on Australian jazz musicians and many international performers.

[4] The Australian Jazz Museum is open to the public on Tuesdays and also by appointment for tours of the facilities.