Newcastle Museum
Founded in 1988 and relocated to its current building in 2011, Newcastle Museum preserves the history of Newcastle. Situated in Honeysuckle and occupying old railway workshops, the museum opens Tuesday to Sunday. Closed on Mondays, except in school holidays, the museum is a great place to visit There is no cost to visit the museum.
How To Get There
Car parks on Wright lane and Honeysuckle Drive provide a convenient place to leave the car. These are pay-for-use parks, with ticket machines to buy tickets from. IF you are using light rail, the closest station is Civic.
Newcastle Museum Displays
Outside Displays
Several of the Museum’s displays are located outside the main building. They are easy to find, one being a camel sculpture and another a huge dragline bucket. The building itself has historical importance, previously used as a railway workshop.
Link Gallery
Located between the old Boiler Shop and Erecting Shed, the Link Gallery holds some of the larger exhibits in the museum’s collection. These include “The Buck” an 1870 J&A Brown Locomotive No4 and the 1890 pipe organ formerly installed in St Augustine’s Church, Merewether.
Fire and Earth
Illustrating Newcastle’s industrial past, this gallery has exhibits from the old BHP Steel Works and coal mines. The multi-level displays allow you to view them from different angles and appreciate these industries and the people who worked them.
Supernova
Founded by Professor Tim Roberts in the late 1970s, Supernova is a hands-on science experience for kids and interested adults. This area explores different aspects of science, allowing you to experiment and understand them with easy activities. An excellent place to learn about science while having fun.
A Newcastle Story
This area of the museum explores how Newcastle changed over time, from the original Aboriginal inhabitants, to the World War 2 shelling by a Japanese submarine to the earthquake of 1989.
Dedicated to the George and Richard Owens Collection, one room is full of colourful boxes and containers. This beautiful collection shows how brands were sold and presented in the past.
Model T Ford
Illustrating a problem many museums have is a rusty Model T Ford. Should it be left as found, or restored to its original condition? Would restoring it destroy its history and possibly lose important data?
What Did We Think?
We were surprised by the quality of the exhibits and had a great walking through the galleries. Anyone visiting Newcastle should visit the museum to help appreciate the city’s past. Well worth the visit!
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To see what else there is to do in New South Wales, please see some of our other stories.
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