Thylacine exhibition the jewel in new museum's crown

Artefacts from the days when Thylacines still called Tasmania home form the centre piece of a revamped museum in Swansea, Tasmania.

Labor member for Lyons, Rebecca White MP, tonight praised the Glamorgan Spring Bay community for their work at the official opening of the revamped East Coast Heritage Museum and Visitor Centre in Swansea.

“To have this significant heritage building redeveloped to provide the community with this resource is a wonderful achievement,” Ms White said.

“The East Coast Heritage Museum is the custodian of an important and significant collection representing the history of Swansea and the Glamorgan area.

“It was first used as a museum as early as 1923, when it was known as the War Memorial Museum, and today the collection continues to include a compelling display incorporating all of Australia’s military conflicts.”

Ms White said the museum’s displays had also been enhanced by items loaned from the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) and the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery.

“The museum’s Thylacine exhibition includes a Thylacine jawbone pincushion, c.1900, from TMAG’s collection and a cast of a Thylacine skull kindly loaned by QVMAG,” Ms White said.

“Highlights of the museum’s collection on display include a beautifully crafted 18th century dress from the Louisa Meredith collection, and a vicious Tasmanian Tiger trap as used on the local property The Bend.”

Ms White said the redevelopment had been made possible with funding from the Tasmanian Community Fund, Arts Tasmania, Glamorgan Spring Bay Council, and guidance and advice from Heritage Tasmania, Arts Tasmania’s Small Museums and Collections Program and a range of organisations and individuals.

The East Coast Heritage Museum and Visitor Centre is open to the public seven days a week from this week.