EPRPS

Eyre Peninsula Railway Preservation Society Inc.

Concept for a "Port Lincoln Community Museum"

 

Port Lincoln currently has four museums, so why do we need another facility? All four are specialised niche operations:

Each make a valuable contribution to the preservation and display of Port Lincoln’s rich heritage, but there is a gap in the general history of the district.

The Opportunity

With One Rail (formerly GWA) winding down their Port Lincoln operations, the EPRPS have taken a lease on the whole of the heritage-listed stone station building. The Railway Museum doesn't need all the extra space, so the suggestion is that the top floor of the station building be dedicated to a general Port Lincoln Community Museum, to cater for all the aspects of Port Lincoln’s history which are not currently represented in the specialty museums.

How Might it Work?

The top floor of the station building is divided into multiple rooms of varying sizes. Rather than trying to establish a new organisation to set up everything, it has been suggested that a number of existing community groups might like to take responsibility for just a room (or part of a room, if appropriate) and be responsible for setting up and maintaining displays related to each group’s area of interest. We would encourage each group to refresh or update their display every now and then.

There would need to be a collective, co-ordinated arrangement for volunteers to open the museum on a rostered basis. With multiple groups involved, this duty can be shared around.

Where To From Here?

We are at the concept stage, and would love to hear from any community groups or organisations who may be interested in putting their memorabilia or other information on display. Ideally we would like to see displays showcasing a wide variety of aspects of Port Lincoln and lower Eyre Peninsula history. We don't want to duplicate the efforts of the current specialist museums, although they are encouraged to provide small "teaser" displays to encourage visitors to also visit their own museums. We see this idea as simply adding another attraction for visitors to Port Lincoln.

A more detailed outline of the concept (PDF) can be found here.

If you think that your group might be interested, please get in touch with Peter Knife at president@eprps.org.au or on 0428-119-287 to talk it over. We'd welcome your interest!