The Coalfields Museum on Throssell Street provides a unique glimpse into Collie’s early days.
The museum is housed in the historic buildings of the 1900 and 1930 Road Board offices. The buildings were converted into a museum and opened in 1971. Almost single-handedly, coal miner Stan Cull established an attraction which ranks with the best of country town museums. A Jeffrey Coal Cutter was one of the first machines used on the coalfields and is featured in the simulated mine along with the horse drawn skips and the crib cabin. Taking pride of place is a restored barrel organ made in Italy. The organ is a forerunner of a juke box and it entertained the old timers at Fontanana’s Wine Saloon by the Federal Hotel in Throssell Street. A massive letterbox (pillarbox), a relic of the penny postage days, is rare having been cast in the Ledgar Foundry in Perth in 1903. The Wall of Remembrance is in memory of our Collie boys who served in the Great War. Many more household items are on display in the museum including bottles, radiograms, phonographs, gramophones, wirelesses, a baker’s cart, mining equipment, a Coolgardie safe, IcyBall refrigerator, Lynch’s Rock and Mineral display, Fred Kohler woodwork, Gastaldo Homestead items, Della bus, all time great fireman Dudley Magill’s bust, and many historical photos. |
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