Pioneer Museum

Address	Corner of Camm Street and Mitchell Street Wongan Hills. WA 6603
Opening Hours	Every Sunday from April to November between 1.00 and 4.00 pm or by appointment on special request. To open the museum outside normal hours relevant contact numbers are available from the Wongan Hills Visitor Centre 9671 1973
Contact Numbers	Coral Hewson 9671 1300 Chris Sadler 0428 721 028
Email	wonganhillsmuseum@gmail.com

The Wongan Hills & Districts Pioneer Museum and the Local Studies Room in the Community Resource Centre celebrate our local and Wheatbelt history. A guided tour of the museum by one of our dedicated local volunteers will open your eyes to our past.

The Museum is housed in the town’s original hospital and many visitors declare themselves to have been born in this wonderful old building, which provides ample room to house a great many treasures of our Shire’s past. There is a display of 1940’s hospital equipment, but that’s only a fraction of what’s on offer to the visitor. If your interest is in discovering what it was like to be a pioneer, visit Wally Townsend’s original hessian-lined hut with its home-built furniture made from local timber and recycled goods. See also a telephone switchboard, blacksmithing equipment, household items used by pioneer women, World War II paraphernalia and much more. Behind the building you will discover a vast variety of machinery and vehicles – wagons, buggies, harvesters, dam-sinking scrapers, a CBH wheat auger, a World War 2 army tank and many other reminders of our pioneer heritage.

Are you interested in history of the area and local family history?

If your focus is on family or more general local history then the Local Studies Room (LSR), housed in the Community Resource Centre, is for you. The LSR is open only by appointment but there is often someone there doing research during normal working hours. There are many resources available for viewing in the LSR. The comprehensive digitised photograph collection goes back to the first settlers and includes individual people, farming activities, sporting events and places of interest. Information on local people, organisations and events is held in an extensive newspaper clippings collection. District maps and local Rates books are to be found here. Also in the LSR are books of local interest and family memoirs. A useful reference is available for purchase – a digital Dictionary of Wongan Ballidu residents, past and present, where you can cross reference families and follow your unique family history.

Museum Admission Fees: The Wongan Hills & Districts Pioneer Museum is run by dedicated volunteers, with the aim of making our history accessible to all. There is not a set admission fee but we invite visitors to make a $5 donation (negotiable for groups, seniors, families, and pensioners) to assist us with our ongoing operation and administration costs.

Local Studies Room: The LSR can be visited by appointment during the Community Resource Centre’s working hours of 9.00 am to 4.30 pm Monday to Friday.  It is in the same Railway Station Building as the Visitors Information Centre, Lot 1 Wongan Road. 

Local Studies Room contact Chris Sadler 0428 721 028

Both the Museum and the Community Resource Centre have disability access and disability toilet facilities. Group tours of the Museum are welcomed.

Follow up on Facebook: Wongan Pioneer Museum | Facebook

The museum always welcomes donations of items of relevance to the Wongan Hills Community to add to our Museum collection.