Chinese Translation

Thanks to Bin Wen from Shanghai we are now able to provide a translation of our handout to Chinese speaking visitors.

Maitland Brown's fruit bowl

Latest donation to the museum is this EPNS fruit bowl. This is a very significant piece as it was presented by members of the Greenough Farmers' Club to Maitland Brown in June 1904. The presentation ceremony in St Catherine's Hall had to be cancelled due to the death of Mrs Brown. Brown was appointed the first Resident Magistrate at Greenough (aged only 23). He later served as Resident Magistrate in Geraldton and was instrumental in organising relief for Greenough residents after the 1888 flood. Thank you to Peter Carew-Reid for sending this bowl over from Queensland to the museum.

French translation

"Merci beaucoup Myriam." We now have a French translation of the Museum handout.

City of Greater Geraldton Heritage Awards

At the City of Greater Geraldton Heritage Awards held on the evening of 10th April, the Community Group of Greenough (Inc) as custodians of the Greenough Museum & Gardens were presented with a "Special Recommendation" Award.
Pictured is Gary Martin, curator of the museum receiving the award from Ian Carpenter, Mayor of the City of Greater Geraldton.

Midwest Chapter Report

On Saturday 28th March, the Cervantes Historical Society hosted the Midwest Chapter of Museums Australia (WA) meeting. This provides an opportunity for representatives from all the local museums to meet, share ideas and report on their activities over the previous 6 months.
Below is the report presented on behalf of this museum:-

Since we last met in October, the museum has had a further 786 adults and 198 children visit. Summer is always a quiet time, but we contain to maintain our charter of having the museum open every day. How many other museums can make that claim? This is only possible through the support we receive from volunteers from the Community Group of Greenough.

We continue to work with other organisations to care for Greenough’s heritage. Menshed Geraldton is close to completing restoration of the Poison Cart which was in a very dilapidated condition due to it being displayed outside for the previous 40 years. The Greenough Regional Prison is about to undertake restoration of the Royce Dray which is also in a very dilapidated condition for the same reasons. This work will be supervised by Max Royce, grandson of the original maker.

Through funding from the City of Greater Geraldton, the first of two sets of banners have been installed in the front paddock. We also thank the City’s Heritage Services for providing a Three Museums banner for display in the museum.

As part of our quest to have an evolving and engaging museum, a very successful sourdough bread making workshop was held in the museum kitchen, and further workshops are planned this year. The Community Vegie Garden is now in readiness for planting and continues to be both an attractive and educational addition to the museum. As well the Community Space provides a much needed meeting place for the local community. Museums today are far more than just a collection of old objects and we look our continually expanding our role in the community.

But talking of old objects, I continue to hope that the management of the Geraldton Historical Society comes to their senses and return the Maley and Greenough objects and photographs to their rightful place at the Greenough Museum.

As I have stated previously, as a group we all need to seriously look at our collections. If we have objects that are more appropriate elsewhere, pass them on. Each museum in this region needs to create its own unique identity. With this in mind, and as a gesture of good will, I would like to pass on to the Geraldton Historical Society these 3 beautiful late Victorian portrait photos that have come from Geraldton.

Can you help identify this woman?

According to the donor, the woman portrayed here is either Alice Bullen or Catherine Scrivener, both daughters of Joseph and Catherine Bridgman of Greenough. Can you recognise her?

Flood Display

With minor flooding of the Greenough River occurring at the moment, I bring to your attention this recent display at the museum.

It came about as we had excess furniture with  nowhere to store. By stacking them on top of each other we have created a display relevant to flooding and directs people to the Cellar where we have further information.
Fortunately this house was built above the 100 year flood level.