Mid-North Coast Archives - Page 5 of 9

2 February 202325 January 2023

Port Macquarie Museum

Museum displays designed to look like shop fronts

Port Macquarie Museum

Located in the centre of town, the Port Macquarie Museum preserves the area’s history from colonial settlement and its dependance on the timber industry to the tourist destination it is today.

Parking is available on street, or you can walk there from your accommodation, depending where you are staying.

The Museum

Divided into eight themed rooms and galleries the museum is well laid out and curated with many interesting exhibits. The room detailing Port Macquarie’s convict past has a full size display of a man receiving the lash as punishment for a misdemeanor. Somewhat graphic, it does show how brutal Australia’s past was.

An interesting room called the Street of Shops displays artifact collections as if they were is a window display. The entire room is setup to look like a street with shop windows. Each window has its own themed display from timepieces to a dentist’s surgery.

Port Macquarie’s past relied heavily on the timber industry; particularly cedar which grew locally. A large room shows how the timber was processed and what it was used for. Unfortunately, the harvesting of so much cedar means it is now a rare tree to find in the wild.

This was an interesting museum to visit and learn more about the local history.

Koala statue Port Macquarie Museum — Koala statue

Mannequin of a British soldier — Koala statue

31 January 202325 January 2023

Hello Koalas Sculpture Trail Port Macquarie

Hello Koalas Sculpture Trail Port Macquarie

Located all over Port Macquarie and its surrounding districts on the NSW mid-north coast, the Hello Koalas Sculpture Trail is a fun way to find your way around town. With many businesses and attractions sponsoring one or more of the sculptures it’s also a great way to make finding them more fun.

Each sculpture is hand-painted by Australian artists, featuring environmental, wellbeing, heritage or cultural designs.

We had fun finding them around town because they are often painted to fit it with the business that sponsors them. The koala outside the courthouse is a convict, while the ones at the Glasshouse Arts and Visitor is Lady Lola the Dancing Koala.

Hello Koalas Gift Shop

Located at Shop 16, 10 Bellbowrie Street in Port Macquarie, the Hello Koalas Gift Shop had around 17 koala sculptures waiting to find a home. This was a great visit, with lots of photos taken and souvenirs bought.

Here we also learned that they advocate to raise awareness of the importance of protecting our koalas and environment. As part of the national organisation Arts and Health Australia, funds raised from projects and events are distributed among essential environmental causes.

It’s an excellent way to promote the town, with large local population of koalas while raising awareness of the koalas’ plight. Threatened by land clearing for roads and houses, vehicle strikes, dog attacks, disease, drought and climate change, koalas face an uncertain future. The recent bushfires highlighted the dangers that koalas face.

Lion Leo Hello Koalas Sculpture Trail — Lion Leo

Kalido Hello Koalas Sculpture Trail — Lion Leo

To see what else there is to do in New South Wales, please see some of our other stories.

28 January 202324 January 2023

Mid-North Coast Maritime Museum

Preserving Port Macquarie’s maritime history, the Mid-North Coast Maritime Museum occupies two old Pilot Cottages dating from the 1890s. Originally used to house the pilot and the boatmen who assisted him but now repurposed into a museum.

Getting There

Located in Port Macquarie on the NSW mid-north coast at 6 William Street, it has beautiful views over the surrounding coast. This would have been vital to the pilot, so that he could see ships arriving before guiding them into the harbour. Parking is available on-street and is free.

The Museum

Spread across the two cottages are nine themed rooms, along with an outdoor display and an additional room with a shell display.

The first exhibits you see are an anchor collection a sea mine and two of the Hello Koala sculptures. Appropriately one of the koalas is decorated as Lachlan Macquarie, for whom the town is named.

The interior exhibits follow the history of Port Macquarie from the arrival of the first colonial settlers and convicts 1821 through to The Second World War.

One room details the loss of the Wollongbar to a Japanese submarine off Port Macquarie and the efforts of local fishermen to save the crew. Thirty-two crew members died, however 6 were saved.

Voyages along the eastern Australian coast proved dangerous with many ships wrecked. Using photos and wall displays all known losses are listed along with some artifacts.

An interesting museum to visit and it’s great to see this sort of history preserved where it provides a link to the past.