Mount Victoria Museum
UPPER BLUE MOUNTAINS & DISTRICT HISTORY
THE MUSEUM is OPEN on Saturdays noon midday to 3 pm
GROUP BOOKINGS 7 days per week – enquiries via our Group Bookings page
Location: 35A Station Street, Mt Victoria NSW 2786, Australia. The Mount Victoria Museum is housed in 16 rooms including the old Refreshment Room, entrance at the rear of Mt Victoria Railway Station.
Entry fee: $8 adults and $1 children
MUSEUM NEWS UPDATE – JANUARY 2023 click here to read
In the coming months the Mount Victoria Museum, and other parts of the historic railway station precinct, will be receiving some long overdue building maintenance works. Initially, work will be carried out on the outside of the museum to repair the roof and chimneys with interior works commencing after a full assessment of the building’s current status. The full scope of the interior work will include removal of lead paint and repainting of walls and ceilings together with any other structural work to be determined.
The committee understands that parts of the museum that do not require refurbishment will be available for storage of the collection while other works are being carried out. When the full scope and duration of this project is better understood we will be seeking support from the wider community to be involved in preparing the museum for temporary closure and reopening once works have been completed.
We will need to shut down for a period of months and no visitors will be allowed in the museum area while this work is being carried out. During this shutdown period we are planning to increase our online activity to keep in touch with the wider community. At this stage it is uncertain as to how long the museum will need to be closed, we will keep members up to date as new information emerges from the remediation project teams.
The museum committee will continue working in parallel with the project phases to secure an extended lease period for the museum’s long-term future that recognises its unique and continued place in the heritage, arts and culture of the Blue Mountains.
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Find us here — right at the train station in Mt. Victoria.
From The Archives
ANZAC Day - follow the link to a short history of the first WW1 Volunteer from Mt Victoria, Louis Charles Andrew Meurant, wounded at Gallipoli on the 5th May 1915.
Mt Victoria Memorial - A Tribute to the Brave
The Lithgow Mercury of Friday December 15th 1916 (p6) reported the minutes of the Mount Victoria Progress Association.
A motion was put to the meeting by Mr Sheppard and Seconded by Mr Rook:
“Subscriptions should at once be called for with the object of installing a roll of honour in the pavilion with the names of all of the men who have enlisted from Mount Victoria and District.”
The creation of the monument grew from this initial motion.
The design was by Oswald G Rienits (son of H Rienits, The School, Mt Victoria)
Builder: Thomas Lanfranchi, Plasterer: James A Teer
The Memorial was unveiled on the 3rd of June 1918
Anomalies
At unveiling the deaths of the enlisted men were recorded with a cross next to the deceased name. As the monument was conceived, constructed and unveiled over a two and a half year period a lot changed with regard to the lives of the men. Late 1917 through till the Armistice was a bloody time with many battle casualties. Weariness and disease, symptoms of a long campaign also took toll of the men.
Not all local servicemen are recorded on the monument.
Undoubtedly worthy individuals from Mt Victoria and surrounds were omitted.
Those Recorded
The names gathered “by subscription” included enlistments in the Army, Navy and the fledgling Australian Flying Corps (AFC).
They were from Mount Victoria, Bell, Hartley, Hartley Vale, Little Hartley, Hampton, Lowther, Mount Wilson, Mount Irvine, The Kanimbla Valley and other areas, at least 2 were from British Regiments.
Some were ex students of The School run by H. Rienits in Mt Victoria.
The Secretary of the Mt Vic Museum, Paul Gray, has identified Seventy nine of the eighty listed as part of his own family history research into the Meurant family. Paul can be contacted on secretary@mountvictoriamuseum for further information
1940s aerial view of Mount Victoria. This photograph is larger than the museum's A4 scanner so a diligent volunteer scanned two images (upper and lower) then joined them together using graphics software.
Museum volunteers can learn about many aspects of the care, preservation and display of heritage objects. Society membership is only $10 per year plus a $1 joining fee for new members.