Council
30 April, 2024
It's back to the future for regional museum
Priceless memorabilia in Horsham is a step closer to having its own public showplace following the adoption of two reports by council - and possible sites for the museum have already been named.
Priceless memorabilia in Horsham is a step closer to having its own public showplace following the adoption of two reports by council - and possible sites for the museum have already been named.
Horsham Rural City Council resolved unanimously on Monday to note the findings of the Horsham Regional Museum Feasibility Study, prepared in 2018, and a review of that document completed this year.
In the review, potential locations for the museum are listed as “a greenfield site along the Western Highway”, an area of (leased) farmland and Longerenong College.
The feasibility study was managed by Horsham’s Home of History Group comprising Horsham Historical Society, Horsham RSL, council and community representatives.
It identified significant heritage collections dispersed throughout the greater Horsham region and held by community organisations and individual residents.
These included more than 1500 militia items - some with national significance - at Horsham RSL and “an extensive collection of cultural, civil and military items held by Horsham Historical Society”.
Holders of “very substantial” private collections were also seeking an opportunity to share their displays, council heard.
Council will now move ahead with reviewing existing collections both within the municipality and across the broader Wimmera and regional Victoria.
It is recommended that the museum spans the period from the founding of Horsham in 1840 to its centenary as a town in 1950, with "water and agriculture" as its primary theme.
Cr Ian Ross said he looked forward to the proposal coming to fruition as “hopefully it will catch the essence of what is the Wimmera, pre-European and European”, including its role as the birthplace of the first combine harvester in the world.
However, Cr Bob Redden said he favoured decentralisation.
“This museum, by necessity… would need to be situated at various locations,” Cr Redden said.
“If we look around there’s probably quite a number of items which people are prepared to share.”
Cr Redden said he believed a series of museums throughout the region could complement the existing Silo Art Trail.