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1860 Wagga Wagga Chinese Opium Pipe

Discover a typical opium pipe used by nineteenth century Chinese miners that is a part of a series of regional collections integral to the story of the Chinese on the goldfields and the establishment of regional Chinese communities. Continue reading

Gold Mining Licence c.1853
1853 Gold Mining Licence

Discover the Gold Miner’s Licence from the 1850s. Miner’s licences were hated by the diggers and this with other antagonisms with the government and police led to the famous Eureka Rebellion of 1854. Continue reading

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1940 Hay POW Camp Coins

The coins have historic value as evidence of the events that surround the internment of POWs in Australia in World War 2 and the experience of the refugees and POWs life at the Hay POW camp. Continue reading

Lambing Flat Roll Up Banner c.1860s
1860 Lambing Flat Roll Up Banner

The banner’s historic value lies in its relationship to the themes of the gold rush experience, racial antagonism, the fear of the exotic and unknown, and ideologies that culminated in the first act of the newly Federated Commonwealth of Australia, the 1901 Immigration Restriction Act. Continue reading

1932 Starvation Debenture

By 1929 the world economy began to slow. Rural product prices were falling and farmers found it hard to sell their produce overseas. In the cities, businesses found it harder… Continue reading