Canowindra Historical Society Museum
The Canowindra Historical Museum depicts the development of Canowindra from the 1840s frontier townshop on the Belubula River to its growth as a rural centre. Horse drawn vehicles, vintage farm machinery, textiles, household memorabilia and an authentic slab hut recall the pioneering days. Bus tours and school groups are welcome by appointment and teachers can plan visits to link with units of study.
The museum buildings are on part of the historic grant to Pierce Collits as compensation for loss of trade after the building of Victoria Pass bypassed his Collits Inn at the foot of Mt York. Land was resumed for the Railways when the line extended from Cowra to Canowindra in 1910. The first stage of the Historical Museum was a former one-teacher school moved in 1970 to a corner of Memorial Park in conjunction with the Shire Council. Buildings were gradually extended on land acquired through Council from the Railways.
Other times by arrangement
The main building displays articles of household use, wedding gowns of local brides from 1886, a Canowindra dental surgery, a bedroom, a nursery, photographs of pioneering families, district schools, churches, Belubula floods and Canowindra?s early village square, a favourite haunt for bushrangers, Ben Hall and gang.