Local History

This pre-fabricated timber mansion was imported from Germany and erected in 1855 for Charles Ibbotson, a partner of Frederick Dalgety. While the interior of the house was re-furbished by its owners in the 1930s, the grounds and gardens remain much as they were in the nineteenth century, complete with stone water tower, stables and dovecote. A decorative arts collection is displayed within the mansion. A small collection of fine Georgian furniture is also on display, collected by the last owners, Marnie and Louis Whyte - Charles Ibbotson's grandson.2000 objects
Built around 1855, the Victorian style double-storey building farmhouse is set in a spacious garden setting. It is furnished as a farmhouse of the 1875-1880 period, and is fully restored after an arson attack in 1994. Within the grounds are farm machinery, a smithy and buggy display, a Museum housing displays of artefacts, gowns and photographs and a Resource Centre.Approximately 500 items including archives and machinery

This museum was founded in 1967 by the Benalla and District Historical Society and is now an Accredited Museum under the Museum Accreditation Program. It began in the former Mechanics Institute (1869) which, since 1988, has been extended a number of times.Approximately 2500 items. The museum specialises in costume which is displayed in three large galleries as well as smaller rooms. The collection dates from 1770 to the present and is shown in regular changing exhibitions of dressed models, with appropriate accessories and decor to suit the theme of the exhibition. A permanent display of "The...

Housed in the old woodend Court House, the Resource Centre caters for local and family history inquiries. The collection is accessed by computers and a master file by over 100,000 cards. Microfilm, microfiche records, audio tapes and transcripts, school and cemetery records, photographs, rate books etc, make up the collectionEstimated 100,000 references and catalogued items
This historic hotel/boarding house (built 1876) houses a collection of furniture, crockery, glassware, gowns, and napery, library, war memoranda, saddlery, pictures, photographs, family histories, carriages, farm machinery, tools etc. The first National Bank built in nearby Longwood (1886) has been resited in the grounds of the museum.Approximately 14 rooms of exhibits, annexe, machinery shed and National Bank, Eliza Furlonge Cottage
The Society presents a collection which illustrates the development of the railed transport of Melbourne's streets from Melbourne's cable trams through to the latest "W" class trams. It is based at the old Bylands Station area, and features electric trams, horse and cable cars of many varieties, including Geelong and Ballarat trams. Rides are available on a 1 kilometre electric tramway.Approximately 40 tramcars on display, plus photo display available
Housed in the Old School Building (c1870), the El Dorado Museum includes a collection of domestic items, mining relics, memorabilia, farming machinery and tools of trade. Photographs show the development of mining in the area. Members of the Trust are available to meet and provide information to tour buses and school groups at the Gold Dredge.Estimate 3 school rooms and several thousand items, plus large shed of carriages and farming machinery, including a blacksmith shop
The Museum complex consists of the General Museum, the Fishing Industry Museum, the 40 pounder Rifled Breech Loading Armstrong Gun fully restored in the Armstrong Gun section, a Pioneer's Cottage (c1900), with Remembrance Garden of Peace in its grounds and Cottage Garden surrounds, including Heritage Permaculture Garden.Approximately 1000 plus 200 photographs
The Museum is housed in a Trust National Building, which is currently undergoing restoration. There are many maritime objects, including models of ships and a scale model of "Gerberus". We also have early clothing, domestic articles, an historic signature quilt from World War I, which has been to Sydney on loan. We also have a sound effects machine, thousands of photographs, silverware, WWI memorabilia, family research and a bi-monthly newsletter.World War I memorabilia including a signature quilt made by the women of Williamstown including Jacka's signature. We have archival records,...
John Alexander, stonemason of Montrose Scotland, arrived in Ballarat, 1853, to build real history just 900 metres from the site of the 1854 Eureka Stockade, where the miners stood their ground against the harsh gold tax imposed by the government. In its middle class simple living style, Montrose captures our Celtic inheritance. Faithfully restored, Montrose is beautifully authentic, presenting an excellent portrayal of the personal trials and tribulations of our forebears. It now remains as possibly the finest restoration example of an authentic goldfields building, extant in Victoria. Today...
The collection includes local photographs and mining equipment, firearms, gold nugget replicas and genealogical recordsEstimated 70 firearms and 20 gold nugget replicas amongst a total of 10,000 items
This museum is housed in the former Schoolmaster's House (c.1880). Special exhibitions and events are staged in the adjoining school room (1878). The museum consist of three rooms of displays and a series of audiotapes of former residents of the district talking of their experiences in the 1930s and 1940s. Displays within the Museum focus on the writing of Andrew Ross, the district's first school master (1851-1876) and the region's enterprising Scottish farmers.Estimated 100 items including 7 volumes of photographs and diary of Andrew Ross
The former bakery houses some of the original bakery fittings and a large historical collection which includes costumes, maps, postcards, photographs, relics of the local racing industry and reminders of the municipality's heyday as a holiday, picnic and bathing resort.Approximately 2000 objects, plus 1250 photographs
Australia's first ecomuseum, set in a park and historic industrial site on the banks of the Maribyrnong River. The Living Museum is a community-oriented regional museum, focusing on the unique heritage, culture and environment of Melbourne's Western Region. Activities include talks, tours, changing exhibitions, publications, audio-visuals and Aboriginal cultural programs.500 artefacts, 5000 archived items, 10,000 negative frames. Our Collection is predominantly oral history, documents and photographic archives. It focuses on the themes of migration, work, environment, culture, heritage,...
Specialising in family and local history, this Centre features a large archival collection of regional Australiana.1 kilometre of records, books, etc
Water Tower Museum is housed in an old four-storey, thirteen-metre water storage tower built in 1886 by the railways for the supply of steam engines. Some objects are also held in the adjacent historic Concordia College building. The museum holds a unique taxidermy collection of 500 birds dating back over a hundred years. Also on display are cuttings, photographs and artefacts relating to the history of the region and the local German, Irish and English farming communities.The museum holds a unique taxidermy collection of birds, eggs and mammals which is over one hundred years old; local...
More than 3000 Australian and international items relating to fire have been collected and are housed in the original headquarters of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade. The Queen Anne style building was completed in 1893.3000 items
This research centre houses photographs, newspapers and mixed memorabilia depicting Portland's social history, and resources for tracing Family History. The building is an 1863 construction of bluestone with slate roof.Photographs, portraits, Portland publications , household goods, tools, cemetery indices, clothing, Henty Plough.
The organisation was formed to preserve the contents of the historic Council Chambers built 1867 and contains photographs, letters, maps, diaries, photographs of Councillors and history of the area. The original Court House (1874) contains original furniture and now houses an extensive display of the service personnel of the district, as well as Lodge relics.600 items
Geelong Gallery's outstanding collection of paintings, sculpture and decorative arts spans the art of Australia from the colonial period to the present day. Frederick McCubbin's masterpiece. A Bush Burial was acquired four years after the Gallery's establishment in 1896. Since then, the Gallery has amassed a magnificent collection of 19th and 20th century Australian and European paintings. Interspersed throughout the nine galleries are exhibitions of decorative arts. Including 19th and 19th century English porcelain, British art pottery, colonial Australian silver, as well as contemporary...

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