Gulgong Pioneers' Museum

A visit to Gulgong Pioneers’ Museum, probably the best known folk museum in New South Wales, is one of the highlights of a trip to the town.

The home of the Pioneers’ Museum was once the Times Bakery. It stands on the corner of Herbert and Bayly Street, just a minute’s walk from the shopping centre (E4 on the town map). The Museum has expanded greatly since its official opening in 1964, and it now occupies almost two blocks of the town.

The main aim of the Museum is to show people how earlier generations, and particularly the pioneers of the Gulgong district, once lived.

Gulgong town grew rapidly from the moment that gold was discovered at Red Hill (five minutes walk from the Museum) in April 1870. The population reached some 20,000 by late 1872. Working and living conditions of that time are shown in the gold mining display, and in the Colonial Bedroom and Kitchen.

The living style of more settled times is illustrated in the Museum’s Victorian Dining Room and Drawing Room settings, and in the displays of clothing and needle work.
Numerous coaches, drays and sulkies show how people travelled, and visitors can walk through cottages, a school house and a blacksmith’s shop to experience the aura of earlier times.

Rooms in the Museum are set up in a variety of styles to demonstrate the passing years: a barber shop, a bakery, a café, a hospital ward, a garage and a telephone switchboard. The Museum even has a functioning, historic printing press, which visitors can see in action.

There are also extensive exhibits of agricultural machinery and steam engines. Another section shows the role of Gulgong people in the defence forces.

A whole building, across the street, is devoted to vintage phonographs and recording machines.

With so much to see and enjoy at Gulgong Pioneers’ Museum, be sure to allow plenty of time for your visit!

The Museum is open to the public from 9 am to 5 pm, seven days a week.