Member for Northern Tablelands Adam Marshall inspected the roof of the nursers quarters at the Land of the Beardies Museum with members of the Glen Innes Historical Society. Pictured from left are Loretta Peitsch, Alyson Chard, Eve Chappell, Adam Marshall and Malcolm Wehr.
GLEN Innes Historical Society will soon begin replacing the roof on the former Nurses’ Quarters at the Land of the Beardies Museum after receiving a $25,000 grant from the NSW Government through the Community Building Partnership Fund, Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall announced today.
Mr Marshall met with Historical Society members recently to discuss their plans to completely weatherproof the building which stores many important historical items.
“When the Historical Society first approached me to help them with funding, I inspected the building and could see the original roof was weathering badly,” Mr Marshall said. “The corrugated iron sheets are brittle, filled with holes and generally unserviceable.”
“The Nurses’ Home is particularly important as it is used for storage of textiles and all other items not currently on display in the main museum.
“It also houses the specially designed costume room with special storage facilities for dresses and textiles and there is a plan afoot to use it to display office equipment and sewing machines.
“The building itself is a museum piece in that it is the original Nurses’ Home, built in the 1930s and closed in 1956.”
Mr Marshall said the Museum and its wonderful collections were important assets for the Glen Innes community and he was pleased to secure the funding for the Society.
Glen Innes Historical Society member Eve Chappell said they were delighted to receive the news of their successful application and thanked Mr Marshall for his support.
“This is such an important project for the Historical Society and wonderful that we can now ensure the safety of all the historically significant items we have stored in the nursers quarters,” Mrs Chappell said.
“Since the Historical Society took over management of the old hospital 1970, we’ve managed to complete some major works and turned the site into one of the finest museums in regional NSW.
“We’ve replaced the roof on all the major museum buildings, installed a fire and smoke detections system, upgraded all areas of the building with appropriate painting and maintenance, replaced all electrical systems, installed 5Kw solar panel system, replaced fronts steps and major retaining wall, resurfaced driveways and car parks and removed dangerous trees.
“It’s a long list and still much to do but this is great news and something we’ve been needing to do for a while.”