Museum stalwart Brian Taylor says:
"We want to give people a sense of being able to relive what life in the late 1800s and early 1900s was like. We want to give them something they can talk about to friends and relatives and for them to ask ‘did you know that.?'"
There are 19 original buildings spread across three acres at the complex, including a faithfully furnished slab hut from 1898, a complete railway station, century old church, fully equipped blacksmith shop and dairy shed and the old Dundowran State School, where the cramped wooden desks, old text books and strict rules on the wall help re-create the tough, structured school life of the late 1880s.
You can try your hand at using a pedal powered lathe to make a wooden goblet and try shelling corn. Blacksmith and woodturning demonstrations are held every Sunday from 1–3pm, and can also be organised at other times by appointment for large groups.
In all, the museum houses a collection of more than 8,000 historical items – including authentic furnishings, household items and clothing, along with the wagons of early settlers and machinery used in Hervey Bay's sugar cane industry.
