Merimbula Old School Museum

23/10/2026

WHO KEEPS THE HISTORY OF COMMUNITY ORGANISATIONS?

Sporting clubs. Service groups. Progress associations. Bands. Show societies. Churches. Craft groups. Youth organisations.

They are often at the heart of the community for decades — but, surprisingly quickly, their history can disappear.

A badge, trophy, minute book, uniform, photograph, program or handwritten membership list might one day become the only surviving record of the people who organised events, raised money, played sport, performed music or simply brought their community together.

That is one reason why community museums collect more than beautiful or unusual objects.

We also collect the evidence of people doing things together.

Does your family have photographs or memorabilia connected with a local club, society or community organisation? We would love to know what has survived.

21/10/2026

A tiny outfit with a family story

Children’s clothing has a remarkable ability to make the past feel close.

This small tartan outfit associated with the Munn family — complete with jacket, waistcoat and sporran — is far removed from the machinery, tools and industrial objects that usually tell the Munn story.

And that is exactly what makes it interesting.

The Munn family is closely connected with Merimbula’s early development and the Maizena enterprise, but objects such as this remind us that behind business histories were households, children and family lives.

Sometimes changing the scale of the story — from a factory to a child’s outfit — allows us to see the past very differently.

19/10/2026

MORE THAN A BUTTER BOX

It's only a wooden box. Or is it?

This butter box associated with the Pambula Co-operative Creamery and Dairy Company opens the door to a much larger story.

Behind an object like this were dairy farms, early mornings, cream cans, horses and carts, factory workers, transport networks and families whose livelihoods depended upon getting their produce to market.

There is another important word in its story too — co-operative.

Co-operatives allowed producers to work together, combining resources and creating opportunities that could be difficult to achieve individually. They became an important part of rural community life.

That is what makes seemingly modest museum objects so interesting. Sometimes a simple wooden box can contain an entire industry.

y

08/10/2026

A significant exhibit has been added to the Old School Museum at Merimbula with the donation of a commercial fishing…

03/10/2026

🎅 WANTED: A PHOTO OF JACK GRAY & SANTA'S WATER SLEIGH (AKA ALMA)! 🚤📸

Do you remember when Santa arrived in Merimbula aboard Jack Gray's fishing boat, the "Alma"?

I'm putting together a new display at the Merimbula Old School Museum celebrating Jack Gray, his beloved "Alma" and their place in Merimbula's history.

One story I'm particularly keen to capture is Jack's role as Santa's water sleigh taxi, bringing the man in red across the lake to the jetty in front of the Lakeview.

I'm hoping someone out there has a photograph of one of these memorable Christmas arrivals.

📸 Can you help me find one?

Perhaps there's a photograph tucked away in an old family album, or maybe you remember being there as a child. I'd love to hear from you!

Please leave a comment below or email [email protected].

And please SHARE this post! The perfect photograph might be hiding in someone's family collection.

Help me bring this wonderful piece of Merimbula's Christmas history back to life! 🎄

25/09/2026

22/09/2026

Exhibition in development — Building Towns, Making a Living

What did it take to build a community here?

That is one of the questions behind "Building Towns, Making a Living", a new exhibition being developed for the museum.

The story takes us through farms, forests, mines and workshops; along roads and waterways; and into the businesses and industries that helped Merimbula, Pambula and neighbouring settlements grow.

Maize, dairying, timber, gold, blacksmithing, transport and manufacturing all have a place in the story - but so do the people whose labour, ingenuity and enterprise made them possible.

Over coming months, objects from the collection will be brought together with photographs and local stories to give visitors a new look at how people made a living — and made communities.

20/09/2026

Our museum is open online too!

Did you know that a growing selection of the Merimbula Old School Museum's collection can be explored from your own home?

Through our publicly accessible eHive catalogue, objects that might once have only been encountered inside the museum can now be discovered online — along with photographs, descriptions and the stories that give them meaning.

For us, digitising the collection is about much more than creating a catalogue. It means making local history more accessible, helping researchers and family historians discover connections, and sharing the stories of Merimbula, Pambula and the surrounding district far beyond the walls of the museum.

Have a browse — you never know what you might find.

🔎 Explore our collection:
https://ehive.com/collections/202676/merimbula-old-school-museum

11/09/2026

Pambula's wooden water pipe on eHive

At first glance, a wooden water pipe might not seem like a museum treasure.

But this object helps tell an important story about early infrastructure, resourcefulness and the challenges of supplying water to a growing local community.

Recovered during excavations at Pambula, the pipe reminds us that everyday services we now take for granted once depended on practical problem-solving, local labour and materials that were available at the time.

You can explore collection items like this through the Merimbula Old School Museum’s publicly accessible eHive collection.

https://ehive.com/collections/202676/objects/1552106/pambula-water-pipe

09/09/2026

New exhibitions — changing how stories are told

The Merimbula Old School Museum is continuing to think carefully about how local stories are shared with visitors.

New exhibition planning gives us the chance to look again at the objects, photographs and records in the collection — and to ask what stories they can help us tell more clearly.

How did people build homes, make a living, travel, learn, care for one another, celebrate, struggle and adapt in this district?

Every object has the potential to add another layer to the story, just like this cast iron mortar and pestle, used to hand crush ore for sampling and field testing on the Pambula gold fields.

Merimbula Old School Museum, open Thursday & Sunday 1:30 – 4:00
(or groups by appointment).