The Lithgow area is
a hidden gem of history and heritage. Visitors and locals alike can enjoy the
history of one of the most fascinating areas in Australia through the many
museums, historic sites and heritage organizations. From aboriginal history
through to the history of the Small Arms Factory and from Hartley through to
Glen Davis there are sites and museums to learn about aboriginal, convict,
mining, social, railway and factory history.
In March 2012 a
group of museum and heritage organization operators from the Lithgow LGA met at
Eskbank House and Museum to have a chat about how they could help each other
out. From this initial gathering the Lithgow Museums’ Networking Group was
formed. The group meets monthly and our aims are: educating each other to improve the quality of our museums, networking
to promote each other’s museums and share resources, co-operating
to create a combined museum experience for visitors and sharing enthusiasm and to enjoy each other’s company as museum and heritage
enthusiasts. It is exciting to be able to work together, take strength from
each other and present a combined museums experience to visitors and locals.
There are 12 organisations
in the group, some able to attend regularly others coming when they can or
contributing via email, etc. The groups include: Lithgow and District Family
History Society (LDFHS), Lithgow Small Arms Factory Museum (LSAFM), Simmo’s
Museum, Eskbank House and Museum, Lithgow Library Learning Centre (LLLC),
Lithgow State Mine Heritage Park, Lithgow State Mine Railway Ltd, Hartley
Historical Village, Portland History Group, Rydal Village Association, Delta
Expo and Newnes Pub. Each organisation takes turns hosting the meetings and
this has been an invaluable part of getting to know each other’s museums and
being able to share resources and promote other museums to visitors.
The group has
participated in several group activities aimed at increasing visitor numbers to
museums and generally get the word out that Lithgow’s Heritage is amazing and
worth a visit.
Our first activity was an Open Day for many of the museums in
the group on International Museums Day 2012. International Museums Day is in
May and is celebrated by over 30 000 museums throughout the world. With a short time to organize and limited
advertising most museums still saw an increase in visitation on the day of over
500 %. The group has more plans for International Museums Day 2013 and also
celebrating other international days like Volunteers Day 2012 with an afternoon
tea for the wonderful volunteers in all our organizations.
The next group
activity was a combined stall at Daffodils at Rydal. Photos from the different organizations
were displayed and pamphlets and postcards were handed out along with our first
Lithgow Heritage Newsletter outlining heritage events happening in September
and October in the region. The most rewarding part of the day was talking to
people about the museums and history and hearing their stories of the area.
Perhaps this is infact the most rewarding part of running a museum in general.
Our next event was
another stall at the Back to Hartley Celebrations on Sunday 28 October 2012.
This time we included a “What is it?” table with a variety of mysterious
objects for people to ponder, a “Who is it?” display of historic photos of
Lithgow Citizens with room for people to comment, displays from the museums and
projected historical images of the Lithgow area. Of course the most interesting
part of our stall was talking heritage and history and spending time with other
museum enthusiasts.
Our Christmas party will be a well earned reward for all the hard work, much of it
voluntary, that all the organization participants put in to operating their
museums and preserving and presenting to the public the wonderful history that
is Lithgow.
Jan Saundercock
Lithgow and District Family History Society
Ref: M & G NSW blog
