Published on Tuesday, 25 May 2021 at 11:05:26 AM
In our December 2020 Shire Community Newsletter article we spoke about our efforts to find a home for some of the agricultural objects that had been gathered at the museum site over the years. These had been identified as being in poor or incomplete condition and had an unknown history. Regretfully we had to accept the Shire didn’t have the resources to continue looking after them, and so began the process of searching for another museum where they could be re-homed.
A report was presented to Council in November 2020 asking Council to consider the disposal of objects from the museum collection that had been assessed as being of low significance due to poor condition, duplication or lack of provenance. The process of disposing of these items aimed to maximise limited resources (space, time and money) to ensure the more significant artefacts can remain in the museum collection and be better cared for.
In March a call went out through the networks of the Australian Museums and Galleries Association of Western Australia and a response was received from John Hawk of the Avondale Machinery Museum in Beverley.
The museum is located on Avondale Farm which is a National Trust owned property. Avondale Farm operates as a working farm, as well as having an agricultural museum, stables, walks and picnic areas. Volunteers at the museum restore agricultural machinery, including tractors, back to working order.
In April John and his son came to Toodyay and collected for the Avondale museum: a partially and incomplete four-wheel trap, a roll of barbed wire, a metal bath in two sections, some components from disintegrated horse drawn vehicles (mainly from a light two-wheel cart and a four-wheeled dray), approximately 200 cedar shingles (not associated with the gaol restoration), an egg incubator, a cast iron pot and a set of metal gears
Back to All News