Kempsey Museum in Kempsey, New South Wales | Arts and entertainment

Kempsey Museum

Locality: Kempsey, New South Wales

Phone: +61 2 6562 7572

Address: 62 Lachlan St 2440 Kempsey, NSW, Australia

Website: http://www.kempseymuseum.org

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21.01.2022 The Lacemakers of Calais In 1848, three boat loads of remarkably skilled immigrants arrived in Australia within three months of each other. They were referred to in the press of the time as refugee emigrants, distressed British artisans from France but are now generally known as the Lacemakers of Calais. Their descendants now number in the thousands and are represented all over Australia. This is the story of three of these families whose forebears found their way to the...Continue reading

21.01.2022 Twisters on the Macleay Tornadoes (commonly named Twisters in the USA) do occur in Australia although with less frequency and ferocity than in other parts of the world. Basically, tornadoes are violently rotating columns of air, and in Australia are most often associated with supercell thunderstorms. The Macleay valley has felt their impact on many occasions over the years, some of the most notable weather events occurring in 1918, 1964 and 1968. It is only relatively recentl...Continue reading

20.01.2022 Exploring our Collection the Paul Dubotzki Painting A young man gazes solemnly from a painting in our Museum that dates back over 100 years to the German Concentration Camp period of the Trial Bay prison. The painting was recovered shortly after the closure of the camp in 1918. The identity of the young man in the portrait, presumably the artist himself, remained unidentified until the portrait was loaned to the Historic Houses Trust for the 2011 exhibition, The Enemy At H...Continue reading

19.01.2022 The Sesquicentenary of Gladstone (1870-2020) Although it was first surveyed as a village by Surveyor Herborn in 1864, Gladstone as it is today has only been known by that name since 1870. 150 years ago, in September 1870, the citizens of the village on the banks of Darkwater Creek petitioned the visiting Governor of New South Wales, the Earl of Belmore, to allow a change of name from Darkwater Creek to Belmore River. They also asked that the Governor’s wife’s maiden name, Gl...Continue reading

19.01.2022 Mariaville The Town that Never Was Passed daily by thousands of vehicles on the M1 Motorway, the Maria National Park contains a link to Kempsey’s early past. In 1838, the selection of a site on the Maria River for the township of Mariaville, County Macquarie was notified and lots were offered for sale at 2 ($4) per acre. The logic behind the planned town seemed sound enough, Mariaville would be located on the busy river traffic route between Port Macquarie and Kempsey. Th...e Mariaville site was at the head of navigation on the Maria River and it was here the exploring party of Captain Wright had arrived in 1826 from Port Macquarie in their search for the New or later Macleay River described by Aboriginals and runaway convicts. Leaving the Maria, Wright’s party carried their small boat overland until they reached the Macleay. There they put their boat in the water again and made a thorough exploration of this new river, returning to Port Macquarie with glowing reports of it. Enoch Rudder took the same route to reach his newly purchased land at Kempsey nine years later. Rudder employed a team of six bullocks to pull his boat on a sledge across country after leaving the Maria River, clearing a track as he went. A boat harbour was built at the head of navigation on the Maria River, on the opposite sied of the river to the planned township, and by 1836 a constable’s hut was put up. Later an inn would be erected at Mariaville, which was also known as Boat Harbour. James Thomson, a carpenter and joiner by trade, had already built the Bush Inn at East Kempsey on one of three allotments he had purchased from Enoch Rudder in 1836. James built many other buildings in Kempsey and sold his East Kempsey allotments including the Bush Inn back to Enoch Rudder in 1840. He then built the Ship Inn at Mariaville around 1841, the Port Macquarie Police Magistrate recommending his license application stating that the neighbourhood was much in want of such accommodation. The Ship Inn was apparently short lived and by 1844 James Thomson was running the Harts Head Inn at Rollands Plains. Only three allotments originally advertised at Mariaville were sold and in May 1896 the village was officially cancelled. Groups of historians, archaeologists and other interested parties visiting the site of Mariaville in recent years could only find piles of bricks and some old broken bottles, which may have belonged to either the constable’s hut or the Ship Inn, the only traces of the original planned township. Mariaville never became a reality possibly because the way of the ships was better suited to the coastal sea routes.

13.01.2022 Commemorating VP Day This year marks the 75th Anniversary of Victory in the Pacific (VP) Day. On 15 August 1945, Imperial Japan accepted the Allied demand for unconditional surrender, ending World War II. Out of the 73 servicemen commemorated in Kempsey’s Streets of Honour programme who lost their lives in World War II, almost half died in the Pacific theatre of operations. One of these was Frank Richard (‘Dick’) Archibald, who fought in major battles in North Africa and Gree...Continue reading

11.01.2022 In this Episode Macca and the WUDU team visit Kempsey Museum.

10.01.2022 The latest publication from the Macleay River Historical Society is now available from Kempsey Museum. Macleay Fallen by Phil Lee is the result of ten years research on World War 1 soldiers from the Macleay who died in that conflict. There are 200 biographies and many photographs. Also included in the same volume is Macleay Valley Nurses in the War of 1914-1918 by Dr Noeline Kyle. The book is available from Friday 19 March from Kempsey Museum 02 6562 7572. Copies of Garry Munday’s Kempsey/Armidale Road publication are also available again from the Museum.

08.01.2022 For your convenience, a selection of our local history books can be purchased in the Kempsey CBD for the next two weeks at Coastline Credit Union.

07.01.2022 Faulkner Street, South Kempsey What’s in a Name From time to time, the Macleay River Historical Society is consulted by Kempsey Shire Council on the naming or renaming of new or existing streets. When South Street was extended recently, it was necessary to rename that part of South Street to the east of the Macleay Valley Way and traversing Gill Park. We were pleased when our submission to have it named Faulkner Street after an industrious South Kempsey businessman and resp...Continue reading

07.01.2022 The Enterprising John Bryson Our Society receives family history enquiries and information from all over the world and sometimes these can add valuable information on our local families. One such request in 2015 was from Maralyn in Northern Ireland enquiring after John Bryson, storekeeper of Frederickton and later Kempsey. John Bryson was born in Ballynahinch, County Down in Ireland around 1853. His wife, Margaret, also came from the same locality (now in Northern Ireland). ...Continue reading

05.01.2022 We are now open weekends again.

03.01.2022 Our latest publication is now available, The Kempsey/Armidale Road: The Forgotten Link by Garry Munday. On sale at Kempsey Museum, South Kempsey Park for $25.00. This book was funded by Create NSW's Cultural Grant Program, a devolved funding program administered by The Royal Australian Historical Society on behalf on the NSW Government.

02.01.2022 Miss Elizabeth (Beth) Mackay and Allandale, East Kempsey Elizabeth Maud Mackay was born in Port Macquarie in 1887 , the daughter of Robert Allan and Agnes Mackay. Agnes, nee Blair, married Robert Mackay on the Manning River in 1879 and the couple settled at Rollands Plains where Robert attained extensive grazing interests and bred Hereford beef cattle. They raised a family of four sons and five daughters John Blair (1880), Alexandrina Ethel (1883), Alexander De Witt (1884)..., Elizabeth Maud(1887), Edith Margarita (1889), Eric Rupert (1891), Eva Mary (1893), Agnes Mona Blair (1896) and Robert Bruce (1898). The family moved to Kempsey in 1920, building a house in East Kempsey which Robert named Allandale after their Rollands Plains property. The gracious rambling home overlooked a broad sweep of the Macleay River and the Mackays entertained a great deal. Agnes, better known as Mona, married Arthur Samuel Allen at Allandale in 1921. Arthur was a young Kempsey accountant, later to achieve fame as Major-General Tubby Allan of the Kokoda campaign in World War 2. Robert passed away in 1929, and after her mother’s death in1933, their daughter Elizabeth took in her first guest. Within a few months she was running Allandale as a boarding house, building up a thriving business supplying home-cooked meals and a bed for weary travellers. The house next door was acquired and extensive additions and alterations were made, especially during the war years. After the war, Allandale was converted into a motel. From then until the late 1960’s, Allandale hosted Pioneer bus travellers on the Sydney to Brisbane route, with up to three coaches per day stopping there, and as many as 120 people for breakfast and 40 for dinner. At its peak, Allandale could accommodate up to 100 people overnight. Allandale was lavishly furnished with antiques acquired by Elizabeth and was well known to many travellers during the post-war years. The Macleay River Historical Society has an Allandale Guest Register and entries from that time attest to the high degree of service and hospitality which Elizabeth Mackay and Allandale became famous for: The most wonderful, friendly guesthouse we ever saw in the 5 states of Australia and we thank Miss Mackay for her kind hospitality. A most enjoyable stay in the finest home we have found in 25 years travelling. In later years, Allandale was converted into self-contained flats. Elizabeth Mackay passed away in 1986 just short of her 100th birthday. The property was purchased by a property developer and demolished to make way for a complex of eight units. This was also called Allandale so the name lives on.

02.01.2022 75th Anniversary of the end of World War II, Saturday 15 August 2020 At Kempsey Museum, we have set up a small new display to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the end of World War II, also many other World War II artefacts and photographs are on display in our existing Military History section.