Historical win for local society

Secretary of Richmond River Historical Society, Geoff Foley, in front of a replica of the ship Sally, one of the first ships to come up the river to Lismore.

The Lismore Regional Museum has come a long way since its inception in 1936 and has just received a national award as the best Regional Museum in Australia.

The museum, run by the volunteers of the Richmond River Historical Society (RRHS), has also taken out the category of the best Volunteer-run Museum in the 2010 Marvellous Museum competition run by ABC Radio National.

RRHS secretary Geoff Foley said he was pleased to see the museum’s contribution to the local community recognised and will be heading off to Melbourne in October to collect the winning trophy. As part of the prize, ABC Radio’s Bush Telegraph will be visiting the museum in October and will broadcast a program from the premises.

Mr Foley said the museum won based on the width of the archival collection which related to both the migrant and Indigenous communities, with a large focus on maritime holdings from Lismore’s shipping years and pioneering times. The museum holds thematic displays and features an Aboriginal history room, which was set up with the assistance of local Elders, and a military display based on the Lancers.

“In the 10 years I have been working at the museum there have been many improvements,” Mr Foley said. “We have been working on preserving the collection, digitising photos and electronically documenting archival material into databases.

“Some museums are just a collection of objects, but we have been focussing on giving interpretations of objects and photos, rather than just displaying them. We are telling stories about the local area and the people in it.”

One of the items in the collection is a large medicine chest provided for the steel passenger ship St George in 1885. It contains 55 glass containers of medications ranging from anti-cholera specifics to opium as a soporific, which were both required to deal with injuries and illnesses sustained at sea.

“Pharmacologists at Southern Cross University are keen to research the medications sealed in glass-stoppered bottles, which have been untouched for over 100 years,” Mr Foley said.

This year will be the North Coast National Show Society’s 125th annual show in Lismore and the museum will be mounting a display on the history of the Lismore Show for the event.

Later this year, the descendants of the Wilson Family, who originally started the museum, will be visiting the museum from England. The Wilson family were the first Europeans to live in Lismore.

Mr Foley said Lismore used to be called Tuckurimba which means ‘where the two creeks join’ until Mrs Wilson asked her husband to change the name to Lismore. The name Tuckurimba was then given to a small township downstream.

The museum has put together a special display for History Week 2010. This year’s theme is Faces in the Street and the RRHS have focussed on the Lismore CBD and how it has changed over the last 140 years. The display will be on show for a month and the public can see it on display in the museum at 165 Molesworth Street, Lismore. Opening times are Monday to Friday from 10am to 4pm. You can visit the website at www.richhistory.org.au/ or phone 6621 9993.

Turn to page 30 to see a selection of photos from the Faces in the Street display, which documents the history of Lismore’s shopping district.