Eden Killer Whale Museum — Attraction in Eden

I was shocked and angry to see what this museum included in their small sections about 'Aboriginal History'.

Outdated and racist terms like "picanniny" and "lubra" were displayed in the texts, not to mention this hideous sentence: "The arrival of the first fleet in 1788, followed by an increasing influx of European Settlers with totally differing ways, beliefs and more advanced technolog, were to produce many far reaching changes, disrupting the whole Aboriginal way of life". 'Disrupting'- are you serious? What an insane way to minimise the genocide and enslavery of Indigenous people, as well as the stealing of their land and even their relationships with country. Not to mention "more advanced technology" is just factually incorrect- anyone who has spoken to blackfellas or read Dark Emu knows that Indigenous people had plenty of advanced technology and civilised ways of doing things.

This museum is blatantly not telling the truth about Australian history and when I asked about local Indigenous communities input into the museum, I was told there basically was none but that "Aboriginal groups come through all the time" (and I'm sure they leave feeling much more outraged and upset than I did as a white person).

The First Nations people have cared for this land for 65,000 years before colonialism and, therefore, this museum would not exist without them or their invaluable knowledge of country.

It is time that museums like this reach out for proper input from Indigenous groups into the local history, stop denying the truth of what happened and start listening and displaying correct and dignified history that includes the First people of this Nation.

I was so disappointed in this local icon and embarrassed to know that hundreds of people are reading this white washed version of history every week.

Note: I have included photos of some very outdated signs on the bottom floor, as well as a photo of a 'breastplate' with no context that an Indigenous slave...

Very disappointed On arrival the lady behind the counter did not acknowledge my family and just rudely said postcode then how many No Hello how are you. Personally we think they could make the signs a little more kid friendly and interactive or some signs easy to read for younger children My husband grew up in the area and said nothing has changed since he was a lad and attended the museum modernising/updating required. My youngest chose a T’shirt and hat from the gift shop so my husband waited at the counter to be served but the lady completely ignored him, he was the only person at the counter. Other people began to enter the shop and pay entrance fees and were all addressed in the same manner in which we had been “postcode” My husband was still ignored, small shop and counter impossible to miss him waiting. He waited patiently but no service or acknowledgement so we walked out with a very disappointed child. The older lady had the same name as myself just spelt differently she lacked any form of customer service very rude would...

This is a fairly small, local museum over two floors. There is lift access between the floors, and clean toilets Sadly no cafe, nor any refreshments at all. There is a shop with the usual array of souvenirs and the staff were friendly and helpful. The style is of the traditional kind of museum, not a flashy modern set up, but plenty of information and exhibits. There is a lot of information about the family, whaling and the area. There's also a small theatre showing 'This is Eden.' As well as the skeleton of the famous orca Old Tom, there are the jaw bones of a blue whale and a vertebra. Above the vertebra is a photo of two humpback whales, mislabelled as blue whales. This is really poor. If the staff of the museum either cannot tell the difference between blue and humpback whales, or if they don't know the difference they should be ashamed. It made me wonder, what other inaccuracies are there? But don't let this put you off, if the subject interests you,...