You can learn about the Awabakal roots of the city and its history, shaped by convicts, coal, and steel, at the Newcastle Museum in Australia. Here are 9 reasons you should visit this amazing museum.
1. Why should you visit Newcastle Museum?
See Buck
The Buck, a saddle tank locomotive constructed in the 1870s and imported from the UK, supplied coal locally for almost a century.
Newcastle Museum, which now occupies a prominent position in the Link Gallery, was originally constructed around The Buck, which needed to be installed using a 300-ton crane.
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View the enchanted fishing tree
The interesting Fishing Tree generations of Worrimai Aboriginal people have used to locate schools of fish close to Bagnall’s Beach. It can be found in the museum’s lobby.
Indigenous people used to ascend the tree that hung over the water and point out the best fishing locations to others in canoes.
Amazingly, the trunk still has its footholds visible.
Check out the solo act at Newcastle Museum
The exhibition “A Newcastle Story” features a creative one-man band that uses only his lips and feet to perform all the instruments.
The one-man band was created by a miner who was unable to use his arms due to an occupational injury.
It has odd extras like an ash tray, a bullet cartridge, and a donkey that kicks Donald Duck, causing his mouth to fly wide in agony. It also has a bass drum, six mouth organs, a guitar, and other instruments.
See the 20th century’s most significant automobile
Ford is as American as it gets, but the 1923 Model T chassis in the museum was made in Canada and shipped to Australia. Where Sydney manufacturer Steenbohms constructed the car’s body.
This intriguing Model T is almost entirely original, including the wooden body, nameplates, horsehair filling, and original paint.
Watch the construction of an indigenous canoe
Luke Russell, a proud Gringai-Worrimai, and his team used sparse material from records made a century ago to show how a Kuueeyung (bark boat) is constructed.
At the Carrington boat ramp, the kuueeyung, built from a Stringybark tree, was then successfully launched.
Visitors to the museum can view a video of the canoe being built using traditional indigenous methods as well as witness the canoe in person.
See the bison head of Bradman
Don Bradman, the most well-known cricket player from Australia, played a tour of the United States and Canada in 1932 while on his honeymoon after receiving a taxidermied bison’s head as a wedding gift.
Bradman gave it to the Australian Museum since it was too large for Don’s poolroom. But “Bill the Bison” eventually found his forever home at the Newcastle Museum.
Bill maintains a close check on the staff area on the museum’s upper level.
Find out the oldest rail relic in Australia
The “fish bellied rail” artifact in the Link Gallery may not be particularly attractive, yet it significantly altered Australia’s history.
The piece of metal etched with AACo found in 2007 shows that the coal railway in Newcastle East predates the train driven by convicts in Hobart.
Australia’s oldest train line is thought to have been a gravity line that originally connected to a coal mine at the summit of The Hill.
Be awed by one of the rarest and oldest trees in the world
One of the oldest and rarest trees in the world is the Wollemi pine (Wollemia Nobilis).
In the lobby of the Newcastle Museum, there are three active examples from real life.
Egg-cellent collection
Although egg collecting was once a pastime, it is now seen as a threat to the ecosystem; yet, the museum’s collection shows the biodiversity of the area in the 1930s.
A collection of 320 Australian native bird eggs in a variety of sizes, hues, and forms is on view in “A Newcastle Story.”
2. How much is the entry fee to the Newcastle Museum?
There is no charge for admission.
3. When is the Newcastle museum’s opening time?
With the exception of holidays, Newcastle Museum is open from Tuesday through Sunday. The Museum wants to be as reachable by as many people as possible.
