The opening of a new photographic and art exhibition in Mount Victoria has highlighted the importance of railway to the district.
The Mount Victoria and District Museum's 150th Anniversary of Railway in Mt Victoria exhibition was opened on May 5. It commemorates the Governor's arrival by train on 1 May 1868 to declare the line open.
The exhibition takes the form of a photographic and multimedia display relating to the railway, with text describing the impact over the years of the railway to the village of One Tree Hill as Mt Victoria was originally known.
Beginning with a Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony by Chris Tobin there were also formal speeches from the museum’s president Tim K Jones, its treasurer Jack Thompson, as well as the Society's patron Blue Mountains MP Trish Doyle. Railway poet Colin Steel also recited a couple of his favorites.
“These speeches highlighted the historical importance of railway to the district and were peppered with some excellent touches of humour,” Mr Jones told the Gazette.
Local oral history together with a moving photographic and art projection – thanks to funding from the Federal Government Stronger Communities grant – demonstrated the museum's grant project title, Bringing Local History to Life.
Members of the Lithgow Living History group attended in their Victorian era finery, helping to bring local history to life and were seen reenacting vignettes of our shared heritage around the museum and railway station.
The museum will be operating for extended hours during the Mt Victoria Great Train Weekend (May 26-27 from 10am - 4 pm).
