A RENEWED push to showcase more than 1500 artefacts, housed in a shuttered Hunter museum, aims to illuminate the region's early history, more than 30 years after the museum's closure.
The Hunter Valley Museum of Rural Life - opened in 1966 on the banks of Glenbawn dam - had a kiosk, Oak milk bar and barbecue area, and was a hive of activity throughout the '70s.
"That's where people went to ski and also to picnic. Everybody went there and everybody knew it," Upper Hunter Museum of Rural Life Inc (UHMRL) treasurer, Dianne Walmsley said. "Then they changed the dam wall and the recreation went around the other side and you had to pay to get in.
"They closed the kiosk and the museum was left high and dry."
The museum was closed to all but special appointment in 1986. It closed entirely to the public in 2009 and has remained that way since.
Along with an array of Indigenous artefacts and old farming equipment, the collection includes antique vacuum cleaners, radios, books and paintings.
Some of the collection's larger items include an old milk cart, a horse-drawn hearse used by the Gresford undertaker, William Smith, between 1870 and 1945, and an 1861 Albian printing press, which was the first printing press used by the Raymond Terrace - Port Stephens Examiner.
"It's a fabulous collection. It shouldn't be just sitting out there rotting away."
In 2008, members of the Aberdeen community formed the UHMRL, with the idea to move this collection to town or "somewhere it could be seen".
"They had some actual enthusiasm," Ms Walmsley said. "John Scriven was the man who got it up and running. He really got some things moving.
"There were TAFE classes, people learnt about conservation. There were assessments done. There were significant studies. There were business plans. There was a building in mind and they had someone look at the building. They liaised with the council and the lands department.
"They did so much for 20 years. But people get old. John died, people lost interest, gave up hope and it dwindled away."
In the years following the the UHMRL's inception, it ran movie nights, dinners and other fundraising events to raise money for assessments and studies with a view to open the museum in some capacity.
They liaised with council and the state government on a range of fronts and, at one stage, had plans to move the museum's collection into the old Campbell's Store building in Aberdeen.
"For quite a few years John ran old time movies on film on a projector and that ran up until COVID," she said. "We had up to 60 people and would cook a meal for them and put on an old movie. It was a great thing for the town and John had an idea that could all be done in the old building in town.
"We still do a little bit of local history in town but COVID has killed a lot of things."
In 2010, University of Newcastle conservator Dr Amir Mogadam was part of a team which would go to the museum and teach volunteers and TAFE groups about conservation of the artefacts.
He said it is disappointing to see items of regional historical value wasting away.
"The collection is narrating a period of life in that area that has clearly changed," Dr Mogadam said. "Historical materials are not only objects for showing in a gallery, they also function well with people's sense of belonging, memory and wellbeing.
"Even when I was there, it needed some decision making and it needed the building to be maintained.
The museum's location, combined with an increasingly dilapidated building, means that factors like humidity, rodents, insects and natural elements are causing the artefacts to deteriorate.
"It is a matter of who takes ownership. Will it be community, the department, or local government? Who pays for all the maintenance needs," he said. "There is a need for some kind of decision making, management, anything that breaks this cycle."
The museum sits on Crown land and, in 2009, the NSW government commissioned a Significance Assessment for the collection. The community at the time said the assessment would make it easier to apply for conservation grants.
"We really thought something would happen there and that all just faded away," Ms Walmsley said. "The government changed, you're dealing with people that don't now the story and have to start all over again.
"I don't know what happened 10 years ago. It just fell to pieces."
Reflections Holiday Parks is now the appointed Crown Lands manager responsible for the care and management of Lake Glenbawn Holiday Park, including the museum.
Reflections told the Newcastle Herald it is committed to working with a range of stakeholders so the "historical items can be preserved for future generations".
"In 2021 Reflections engaged with Arts Upper Hunter to seek advice on the items and consider how they can be preserved and enjoyed by the community," a reflections spokesperson said. "In August 2022 we had an initial conversation with a representative of the Wanaruah LALC, Upper Hunter Shire Council, and the Upper Hunter Museum of Rural Life Inc to indicate that we would value their input.
"We have invited representatives on site in the next couple of weeks to seek their feedback on how the items could be preserved and made more accessible to the local community. We will work with the Wanaruah LALC to return the Indigenous items to First Nations peoples."
Upper Hunter council confirmed the mayor and general manager had been to the museum recently to "meet with committee members and view the collection" and that they are open to helping facilitate any move.
Ms Walmsley, who has lived in the area for 20 years, said that while she is "disheartened" by the process so far, there is still a want from the committee to see the collection made public.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on the Newcastle Herald website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. Sign up for a subscription here.
