The administration of the Gulgong Gold Experience has changed hands from the Holtermann Museum Committee, as the latter now pushes towards their goal of completion this year.
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The Gulgong Gold Experience was funded by $400,000 from the Cobbora Transition Fund, which was matched by Mid-Western Regional Council along with additional funding for the exhibition, and was opened in June 2016.
Initially managed by members of the GHM Committee, chairman Chris Pearson said the torch has been passed and that “the Holtermann Museum feel we’ve done our bit and now we need to finish our project”.
“Council was after an incorporated body to run it and we have an interest in the history of the town, so they asked us to do it,” he said.
"And after two and a half years of the Gulgong Holtermann Museum successfully building the Gulgong Gold Experience into a valuable Mid-Western Region tourist attraction, Council has found new administrators in the form of Tony and Joy Harrison who along with an invaluable group of Gulgong volunteers, will continue to build this valuable brand.
“The GHM steering committee must now concentrate on completing the GHM project.”
The Holtermann Museum feel we’ve done our bit and now we need to finish our project.
- Chris Pearson, GHM chairman
Both organisations are community/volunteer based.
Located on the site of Gulgong’s first gold discovery, the Gulgong Gold Experience, allows visitors to walk into a tunnel under the hill to experience what an 1870s gold mine was like.
The centre also includes audio visual displays, photographic displays, on the town’s rich gold rush heritage, geology and the mining process. Along with handling of replica gold bars and the onsite panning experience.
Mrs Harrison said she’s excited to take over the reigns of a historic venue.
“It’s a great museum, up the top where the poppet head is you can look down a shaft which is 30m down and you can actually see the chisel marks from where the shaft was hand-dug in 1870 – it’s unbelievable,” she said.
“Especially when you think that in those days they only had a pick and shovel.
“And we’ve got a gold panning expert here, which the kids love because it’s something different and it’s educational too.”
The Gulgong Gold Experience is open seven days, 1-3pm, at Tom Saunders Avenue, Red Hill, Gulgong, and welcomes regular bus groups, school groups and general visitors.
Holtermann Museum powering through Stage 3
The Holtermann Museum project is heading towards the finish line, having transformed the The American Tobacco Warehouse Company and The Greatest Wonder of the World buildings in Gulgong’s Mayne Street, anticipating the IT fit-out.
When completed the museum will display the UNESCO listed Holtermann Gulgong and Hill End gold rush photographs.
“All the buildings are completed, the structures are complete and we are now frantically working on Stage 3, which is setting up the exhibitions, the computer software, etc,” Mr Pearson said.
“We’ve had a visit by the head curator of the State Library, who holds the Holtermann Collection photographs, he spent a couple of days in Gulgong which was very helpful.
“So we’re currently putting all of that together with our aim to open later this year.”
To check out progress, head to the website at holtermannmuseum.com.au or their Facebook page facebook.com/thegreatestwonderoftheworld
