Bridgetown Police Station Museum in Bridgetown, Western Australia | Museum

Bridgetown Police Station Museum

Locality: Bridgetown, Western Australia

Phone: +61 487 592 704

Address: 148 Hampton St 6255 Bridgetown, WA, Australia

Website: http://Www.bridgetownhistoricalsociety.org.au/

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• Community organisation
• Arts and entertainment
• History Museum
• Museum

25.01.2022 The Bridgetown Police Station Museum must comply with COVID-19 regulations, so if you want to visit, you will be most welcome, but please read this poster before coming. The entry fee of $2 will apply for this year because we have lost all sources of income through ghost walks etc.

25.01.2022 We will continue to keep a register of people coming into the Museum, which we’ve been doing since June. Every visitor is asked to used the hand sanitiser before writing in the book their first name and phone number. Records are kept for 24 days. We are also looking at registering for the QR code option via the Safe WA app that’s been released.

25.01.2022 The Museum is OPEN! But only til midday. Last chance to have a look around until 2nd Saturday in January 2021 Thanks to every visitor who has supported us and shown us encouragement to keep preserving our town's history

24.01.2022 The Police Station Museum has new opening times. Wednesday, 9am to 4pm Friday, 9am to 4pm Saturday, 10am to 2pm... Anyone wishing to visit outside these hours can ring 0487 592 704

24.01.2022 The Museum will reopen it doors on Saturday 6th June at 10.00 (until 14.00hrs). We will let six people in at a time to make sure the rooms aren’t crowded (I’m feeling positive that everyone will want to come and support us). We ask that none of the exhibits are touched simply because we can’t clean after each visitor (normally we encourage touching the exhibits) and also please remember that you, the visitor, are responsible for your physical distancing inside the Museum. Looking forward to seeing you again.

23.01.2022 Bridgetown Historical Society (BHS) is holding its annual Christmas Cake Stall this coming Saturday 12th December at the community stall on Hampton Street (next to Pharmacy 777). We have lots of cakes, scones, biscuits, raffle, homemade jams, plants and of course the BHS book A Mere Country Village for sale. Please come and support us. All funds raised are going towards the audio system we will be having installed next year (thinking positively!) in the Police Station Museum.

21.01.2022 What a fantastic reopening ceremony we had last week. Come and see how the Museum has been transformed into a contemporary space, telling the stories of the past https://www.mbtimes.com.au//museum-offers-a-bridge-to-the-

21.01.2022 Your Museum needs you. We have just 12 members who are struggling to keep up with the demands of being on roster for the Museum every month. To open up each Saturday per month, we need 8 volunteers. If you can spare two hours per month to help us keep the museum open on a Saturday (between 10-12 or 12-2) please ring me on 0487592704 and I will show you around the Museum and see how vibrant it now is. We are now averaging 10 visitors on Saturday, up from between 0-1! No skills are required but you must be physically capable of opening or closing the Museum doors. And you must have a love of your town and want to share its history with our tourists.

20.01.2022 Tomorrow morning at 9 am we are being visited by the judges for the Tidy Towns Award for Heritage and Culture (for what we’ve done and what we plan to do) in the Police Station Museum. Please wish us luck

19.01.2022 The Museum has been registered with SafeWA and now has a QR code for all visitors to the Museum who’ve downloaded the SafeWA app. If you can’t scan a QR code on your smart phone, we also have a book to record your first name and your phone number (the date will be filled by the BHS volunteer at the start of the day).

19.01.2022 Australia did have slaves and has a dark history. The Bridgetown Police Station and Lockup was part of this dark history, but last year we created 13 large interpretive panels describing as best we could the history of Bridgetown and the Indigenous people who lived in Bibbulmen Country. The panels are installed in the Police Station Museum. We hope our panels teach the tourists and residents of Bridgetown about the lives of Pibulmun/Wadandi/Kaneang people whose Country we live on. If you haven’t visited the Museum, please come and learn it’s fascinating. https://theconversation.com/non-indigenous-australians-need

18.01.2022 Help us raise funds for your Museum - visit Mera's Garden during the Festival of Country Gardens, 4 - 8 November (9 - 4 pm)

17.01.2022 A few weeks ago BHS hosted Museum WA's regional Manager, Roz Lipscombe, her scribe, Annette Davis and photographer Bo Wong, at the Police Station Museum, as par...t of their journey around WA seeking out museums to write about and photograph part of their collection. This project is for a new tourism portal emanating from WA Museum's Collections WA website. It is intended to pull tourists into the regions by showing them what is on offer. Today, hot off the email express, I received this email from Roz, who says: Bridgetown-Leading the Way Hi Mary, Just a note to let you know how impressed we were with what you and your committee have achieved at the Bridgetown Police Station Museum. In overhauling your interpretive material and prioritising inclusion of Aboriginal heritage and culture, you are demonstrating leadership in the collections sector. It was also refreshing to see a propensity to communicate information about specific themes and not be compelled to display the entire collection simultaneously. From our conversation, it sounded like you have a highly committed group of people who have been proactively involved in this process. We spoke glowingly about your achievements at many other collecting organisations in the South West and Great Southern regions, and suggested that they visit Bridgetown Museum to gain an understanding of how you have gone about this. Congratulations to all of you! Best regards Roz Roz Lipscombe Manager Regional WA Museum So, to all Bridgetown residents who haven't yet been to visit the Museum and see what we have achieved, please come. You can't promote what you don't know :) The Police Station Museum is closed until 9th January, but if anyone had a group who wanted to look through, it may be possible to organise a volunteer to open up the Museum.

16.01.2022 As the Bridgetown Police Station 1880 Museum is closed due to Covid-19 restrictions, the current "Bridgetown and WW2" exhibition for Anzac Day is presented here. Thank you to Lee Wittenoom for creating this exhibition

16.01.2022 Let’s walk together

16.01.2022 Alice Proctor is exposing the myth of a victorious British Empire in museums around the world https://www.abc.net.au//art-tour-guide-galleries/12241850

16.01.2022 The Museum will be open from 3.30 pm tomorrow (Tuesday 29th December) for an hour. If anyone wants to come in and see what the Museum offers, please let your friends and families know. $2 pp entry fee.

15.01.2022 We have tried to create a contemporary Museum for all to enjoy, but we need your feedback. Please post your comments on Trip Advisor (Bridgetown Police Station Museum) and lets bring the ranking up closer to #1. Just remember that we only have 11 members so our progress may be slower than is expected :) This is what others have said so far: Do Visit ! 4* The Museum is run by volunteers and only opened on Saturdays from 10 am to 2 pm. However, as I understand, the Museum can ...be opened on other days by prior appointment. Charge is only $2 per person and gives you an insight into what life was like a century ago. There are some interesting information - even bush recipes such as kangaroo stew. Some things have very good descriptions but others lacking. Nevertheless, it is well worth a visit. Fantastic 5* As a Bridgetown local I am very impressed with the new look museum. It is really interesting, and well worth another visit. An absolute gem! 5* As a regular visitor to Bridgetown, and previous visitor to this museum, I was delighted to see the new information panels and the improvements to the displays when I visited recently. Well worth dropping in if you find yourself there on a Saturday. And the Ghost Walks in Winter are fantastic! See more

14.01.2022 A reminder of the new opening hours for our Museum: Wednesdays and Friday 9-4 pm Saturdays 10-2 pm Other times by appointment to Mary 0487592704

14.01.2022 We need your help. Lee is undertaking research on the Italian POWs who were stationed in Bridgetown between 1942 and 1946. This research will go towards the body of knowledge we and others have gathered about these important members of the community, and will also be used for a future exhibition. If your family hosted an Italian POW, please can you contact BHS either by email [email protected] or by phone 0487592704. There were over 170 Italians sent to Bridgetown and we know the names of less than half a dozen. We would like to see photos too, if anyone has one. The story below is an example of the harsh realities of life in Bridgetown for POWs and Indigenous women during that period.

11.01.2022 The Museum is open. Its a beautiful sunny day so come and visit us, see what we've achieved so far. Send your house guests or visitors for a walk through the Museum, they won't be disappointed

09.01.2022 Guess what? It's Saturday and the Museum is open between 10 am and 2 pm

09.01.2022 Today was totally amazing. On one of our panels in the Main Room (the booking room) we have a beautiful photo of three older Indigenous people known to us only as King Billy, Peter and Mary Ann. It’s a postcard photo and on the reverse one of the three wrote ‘from us black fellas’. I put the photo on the panel never dreaming a relative of King Billy would come to the Museum today. The lady came from Albany and was very emotional about seeing her g.grandfather’s photo. I’ve sent her a copy. But it just goes to show that word is getting out about our new panels that weave Indigenous and non-Indigenous stories together. I’m so proud of what BHS has achieved so far Stage 2/3 will be successful too.

08.01.2022 The Government of WA has set a tentative date of mid-June for the reopening of Museums so this is what the Bridgetown Historical Society will work towards for our museum

08.01.2022 Hurray, we can reopen the Bridgetown Police Station Museum on Saturday 6th June. Come and support your local Historical Society, view the Anzac exhibition that no one has seen yet due to the Museum closure. View the new interpretive panels we installed in February that very few people have seen.

06.01.2022 Our beautiful, contemporary Museum is looking for new volunteers to offer 2 hours of their time on a Saturday, either 10 - 12 or 12 - 2pm, once every month or second month. The roster for the following month allows you to choose your day to be in the Museum. There is no need for knowledge about the Museum: the new panels that were installed in January give more information than most people need/want. But we need someone who loves history to be in the Museum during its opening hours and ensure that all the exhibits remain in their place :) If you can spare two hours every one to two months, please ring Mary on 0487 592 704 or by email [email protected] and we can sort out a time to meet you and show you around the Museum.

03.01.2022 I toured the Bridgetown Police Station Museum when I was in town this week and was really impressed with this fantastic country museum. Chairwoman Mary Elgar an...d the dedicated group of volunteers have done a fantastic job creating an interactive and informative museum showcasing some of Bridetown's history and that of the historic police station. See more

03.01.2022 A new inmate was found lurking around the Police Station last night but was quickly dispatched behind bars again

03.01.2022 Hurray, hurray, hurray, we can finally get going on the audio project in the Museum

03.01.2022 Mary will be on roster for the Museum this morning between 10-12 if anyone would like to see what’s involved as a volunteer. We need more people to be a Friend of the Museum so that we can either open more often, and also be on roster less often (currently all members are on roster every month without a break). No skills are needed, just an enthusiasm for old buildings and the history of your town.

03.01.2022 Terry Redman, MLA and member for Warren-Blackwood, was invited to visit to the Museum today to see what BHS has achieved in revitalising the displays and the new interpretive panels that tell the story of policing in Bridgetown, including the dark history of the Bibbulmun people. It is of great benefit for politicians to see what mammoth efforts small volunteer organisations such as BHS have to go through to achieve such changes. We look forward to his support when we seek grants for Stage 2 of the revitalisation project (an audio system to play oral histories in each room).

02.01.2022 The Museum is open and waiting to see you. It's a great place to visit on a wet day

01.01.2022 Our Museum reopening has been a huge success this morning and the Museum is open until 2pm today and every following Saturday from 10-2pm. Thank you to the families who came in and supported us, it is really appreciated and I was thrilled with the questions the children asked.

01.01.2022 It’s amazing! We (the Historical Society) have been nominated by the Shire of Bridgetown-Greenbushes for the Heritage and Culture division of the State’s Tidy Towns Awards because of the work we’ve done in the Museum (interpretive panels) and what we plan to do in the next six months. This is a real honour to be nominated. Stage 2/3 will be the installation of an audio-visual system whereby sections from oral histories (taken mostly in 70s, 80s and 2017/8) will be played thro...ughout the Museum and a monitor screen will show video’d oral histories and docos. In addition, we will provide Easy Read cards and possibly Braille cards. This will allow visitors with vision or hearing disabilities to participate and enjoy the Museum. None of this is free and we’ve applied for grants to Lotterywest and the Dept of Local Govt. We are also asking people to pledge a sum of money towards the cost of this audio-visual system. If you would like to help us, please contact BHS [email protected] and we will send you a pledge form. No donation is too small, nor too big every bit will help us create a dynamic, multi-dimensional Museum that caters for everyone. See more