Local History
The Watchouse is an old stone lockup designed by the Government Architect Edmund Blackett and built in 1854. It houses a museum with a permanent display cell on the history of the Balmain peninsula, a photographic collection and a resource centre for local and genealogical inquiries about people, places and events on the peninsula. An exhibition space comprising three cells, the charge room, lobby and part of the former kitchen is available for hire.
The museum, originally the Post Office Hotel, is of slab construction, with a puddled iron roof. Built in 1860, it was occupied continuously until 1970, (as a private home since World War I). The museum is furnished as a private home and features extensive photo and gem-rock collections. Other buildings in the grounds include a school and a blacksmith shop.2,000 items; 2,000 photos; 2,000 gems and minerals
Bishop's Lodge was built in 1889 for the Anglican Bishop of Riverina. It is an iron house, built with great technical innovation for the climate and soils of the Western Riverina. It is set in a late nineteenth century garden and reflects the social, cultural and religious history of its inhabitants over the past century.
This museum documents the history of Wyalong and West Wyalong. Its displays feature early rural machinery, historic photos, colonial household furniture, a mineral, fossil and bottle collection, extensive archives, period costumes, a silver and china collection, war memorabilia and musical exhibits. The museum is housed in a colonial cottage (c.1902).5,000 items; 2,000 photographs
We promote the preservation of the historic Yaralla estate, and the awareness of historic buildings and sites in our area. We also aim to preserve items from the past showing the differences between life in the old days and the present. Additionally, we gather and preserve information from past to present pertaining to our area.Household items, clothing, toys, office equipment, the first motor mower, large family tree from a first fleeter, tools etc
The Conservation Resource Centre records the history of houses, furnishings and gardens in New South Wales. It provides information, original source material and specialist services relating to domestic design history and building conservation. The research library contains and important collection of architectural and furnishing pattern books, department store and trade catalogues, journals, pamphlets, charts and archival material, as well as reference books and current periodicals. The reference collection contains artefacts from New South Wales houses, including wallpapers, soft...
This restored Court House built in 1877 houses a collection of historic photos of Stroud and district. It also displays information on the formation of the Australian Agricultural Company in London in 1824, the farm grant of 500,000 acres on the Port Stephen estate and local and family history.
This Scottish Baronial Style Mansion was built in the late 1880's by James Ewan. Glenleigh is said to be the finest example of Victorian interiors with stencilling of some degree in each room. Ceilings in the main rooms were specially painted by Italian artists to fit in with the character of the individual room.
The Hamilton Hume museum illustrates the development of Yass since the 1820's and includes the life and work of the explorer, Hamilton Hume. The current exhibition "The Parallels" is developed around models of Yass main street 1895, compares that time with 1995 and is illustrated with advertisements, tools and wares. Displays pay tribute to Yass soldiers and nurses 20th Century wars and illustrate a 19th Century shop, parlour and kitchen, rural life and work in a woolshed.Animal husbandry - sheep and wool. Model - Yass main street 1895. Advertising - Yass 1895. Model - rural life and...
Society of 40 persons dedicated to restoration of 1860's Hargraves Courthouse complex. Large triple solid brick courthouse and living quarters, semi attached via enclosed walkway, vertical iron bark slab kitchen (now fully restored), detached vertical slab laundry and large separate horizontal slab stables building. An 1860's public toilet is expected to be operational later in 2002. Hargraves is the site of the first underground gold mine in Australia, founded 1854.In addition to the buildings described above, the society has amassed a large collection of old photographs depicting the...
The Headland Museum at Nambucca Heads is a small, uncluttered Museum with a large photographic display depicting the early days of timber and shipping in the area. Some fine pieces of furniture, china, and ceramics are housed in the Museum, as well as craft, kitchenalia and farming implements. Aboriginal artefacts are featured, including a genuine "King" plate. Records of shipwrecks on the Nambucca are available, as well as of general shipbuilding including the "Royal Tar". Early mill owners are documented and a good collection of timber working tools is on display. The central area of the...
Built with convict labour in 1836-1840, Henry Kendall Cottage was once the home of pioneer poet Henry Kendall. One room contains some of his possessions. The remaining rooms are furnished as an old cottage. An historical museum displays a wide variety of artefacts (eg domestic items, musical instruments) A slab shed features displays on early industries and there is also a shed exhibiting farm implements.. Other features include a replica 2 seater pit toilet and a slab wash-house.
Local museum with over 4,000 photographs and several books on the Hills District for purchase. The museum conducts local area tours for adults and children. Guest speakers are available. Research facilities for local and family history are also available.2,000 items, 4,000 photographs. Tool collection very good - complete set of wood working tools.
A small social history museum designed to show primary school students what life was like in Hornsby Shire when their grandparents were children. Set in the late 1930s, there is a pre-electric kitchen, corner stove, electrified laundry/bathroom with chip heater and a schoolroom, as well as a pictorial history of the development of the Shire and small changing displays. As part of the educational program, school groups can wash socks and play old fashioned school yard games in the park surrounding the museum. The museum also works well with nursing home and Alzheimers day care groups. Its...
The museum inhabits two colonial courthouses and a Police Station built between 1856-1886. It contains the historic NSW Police Museum collection which was established in 1910.Many of the artefacts concern crime, social history, Police, law and popular culture from bongs to batons to Judges wigs and bushrangers' firearms. It also showcases weird and wonderful relics from notorious crimes such as the Shark Arm Murder, the Pyjama Girl Case and the Thorne Kidnapping, as well as many original objects associated with such legendary bushrangers as Frank Gardiner, Ben Hall, Captain Moonlite and...
The entry to the Lachlan Historical Village is the Trigilana Wool Shed. After crossing a suspension bridge, visitors can view the fifty five buildings which comprise the village, including stores, authentic homesteads, a bank, a school, the gaol and a gold mining area. Special features include Henry Lawson's childhood home, the home of bushranger Ben Hall and a medical hall with a collection of over 2,000 apothecary items.20,000 items, 500 photographs
The house, built from local sandstone in 1842 for Thomas Brown, the man who first established the coal industry in Lithgow, stands in a hectare of beautiful lawns and gardens. The four front rooms have been preserved much as they were in Thomas Brown's day, and contain some beautiful early Victorian furniture. Also displayed are many fine exhibits of the early history of the district, a feature being an excellent display of Lithgow pottery and artefacts from the pottery works. The covered courtyard at the rear is used as a museum and exhibits include a Hansom cab and a Pennyfarthing...
The Museum's exhibits include snakes, spiders, minerals, Aboriginal artefacts, shells, war memorabilia and early twentieth century farm implements. A number of historically furnished rooms are also on display.1,000+ items
This Museum looks at the expedition of Count Laperouse through the Pacific between 1787-1788. The collection contains objects from Laperouse wrecks and generic navigational and maritime history. The Museum also has a growing local history collection.300 objects, 30 prints, 50 photographs (est)
The Mid-Richmond Historical Society Museum is housed in the former Woodburn shire Council Chambers in Adams Street, Coraki. Built in 1912 and used by the council until its amalgamation with Tomki Shire Council to become Richmond River Shire Council.The building contains the Shire Boards, early photographs of the four villages and World War I and II Honour Boards from around the district. Other rooms in the museum house wartime memorabilia, kitchen and laundry items, family photos and many other items of interest. The machinery shed contains a collection of horse drawn implements and other...