Founded in 1988 and originally housed in an abandoned brewery, in 2008 Newcastle Museum was shifted to its present location in Honeysuckle, the site of a former railway yard. Its collections are housed in the former locomotive boiler shop, erecting shop and the blacksmith and wheel shop. These late 19th and early 20th century pieces of railway architecture are part of the city’s industrial and coal mining heritage. Chifley, the self catering Newcastle apartment hotel Australia offers a central location and a selection of comfortable, fully equipped apartments from which to enjoy the city museum and other attractions.
Through its collection that now amounts to over 10,000 objects the museum is at the centre of the move to preserve the social, technological and natural history of the city and the Hunter Region. Among its treasures is a unique model T Ford with a chassis that was made in Canada and a body made in Australia, a 19th century pipe organ with a history of its own, still in excellent working condition, a 300 to 400 year old part of a tree used to spot fish in the river by which it stood by the Worimi people and a host of sporting memorabilia. Other interesting features of the museum includes its photo walls that offer fun photo opportunities, a life size sculpture of Constance the Camel outside the museum said to symbolize the city’s immigrant culture and similar sculptures that hark back to the city’s industrial past. The museum’s permanent and special exhibitions feature objects, photographs of events and people, documents, video footage and firsthand accounts of happenings big and small that has contributed to the city’s progress and what makes it tick. Year round events and programs highlight and commemorate special occasions, national events and festivals. Interactive exhibits in Supernova the museum’s science centre, holiday programs for children, a dramatic sound and light show on coal mining and steel production, two industries that have defined Newcastle, at the Fire and Earth Gallery always attract crowds. Among the city’s selection of places to stay is Chiffley, the Newcastle apartment hotel Australia that can be used as a base for long and short stays in the city.
Thanuja Silva is a travel writer who writes under the pen name Auburn Silver. She has a passion for fashion and a deep interest in admiring new and exotic attractions around the world.