BELLINGEN Museum is all spruced-up after a recent refurbishment, with displays that are fresh, bright and easy to access, and with new lighting made possible by a grant.

The spruce-up was undertaken by the museum’s Administrator Mary Humphris and her assistant Anny.

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Visitors, teachers and students have all reacted very positively, with many remarking on the enjoyable experience, described by one local as “like a chat with ancestors”.

Bellingen Museum holds a fascinating collection of documents and relics that offer an insight into the history of the Bellinger Valley from its earliest days.

The area’s first Museum was a display set up in 1963 in a Bellingen shopfront, following the formation of the Bellinger Valley Historical Society in 1962 to research, collect, preserve, display and to record the history and relics of the Valley and its people.

The current Museum was built in 1983 in the precinct that is also home to the Council Chambers, library and tourism office, and it houses most of the Historical Society’s vast collection.

Ongoing projects include recording and documenting the histories of the Gumbaynggirr people and the alternative lifestyle community from the 1970s and 1980s.

Last summer, Mary organised a series of history walks through town in the cool of the late afternoon.

Having grown up in Bellingen, she is a mine of information with extensive local knowledge, but even so she says, “I was surprised at how much I remembered about some of the shops and houses from my childhood.

“I’d be happy to repeat the walks this year if enough people are interested – just pop in and let me know.”

The Museum has no outside funding and is a community-based non-profit organisation run by volunteers.

Due to a shortage of volunteers, the Museum is open only on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10am to 2pm; however, new volunteers are warmly welcome and Mary would love to hear from you if you’d like to play a part in local history.

By Susan KONTIC