Redcliffe Museum — Attraction in Greater Brisbane

A great museum overall, but there is one thing about this place that bugs me to no end - the annoying pre-recorded 'informational' messages that play in place of written information! There is a section called "the shed." It might have some of the most interesting stuff in the entire museum, but you know what it doesn't have? Any of the useful written out informational paragraphs! This is annoying, as items are just items if you don't understand the context behind them. Having some form of information is really important. It's also very useful to be able to take a photo of the sign, so you can come back to it later. But they weren't there! Instead, they were replaced with an extremely frustrating system of motion-sensor triggered speakers, which berate you with uncalled for blabber. From an accessibility standpoint, this makes a bit of sense. Not everybody can read, so verbal information could be useful. But also, not everybody can read, so written stuff is also useful. Why don't you have the written stuff, with a button that (when pressed) reads it aloud? I walked into The Shed section. Imminently, I am 'greeted' with "WELCOME TO THE SHED, I LIKE TO FIND STUFF AND PUT IT IN HERE, RAMBLE RAMBLE, SHED SHED, WIRE, THINGS." I wanted to actually look around at the items, but had an annoying and distracting message bugging me. I moved on, looking at how tools had changed over the years, when suddenly "I SEE YOU HAVE FOUND ONE OF MY FAVOURITE TOOLS!!!!!" Cool. I don't care. Please cease this blabber, I'm busy. Here's something you need to understand: human interaction is good. If an employee saw me looking at a tool, and then came over and said "hey, that's one of my favorite tools," and then started explaining how it changed over time, I would be happy. I would be very thankful to the employee for taking time out of their day to explain something to me. However, recorded messages are not human interaction. If I wanted somebody to talk to me about it, I would have found an employee. If there was a button that said "press here to hear about this tool," I wouldn't mind. But forcing an annoying 'message' onto me felt like punishing me for being curious. I love learning, I would have read any provided information thoroughly. But the messages were just frankly annoying. Further into the section, I almost cried tears of joy! A touchscreen display, with written information! Tentatively, I pressed on one of the options, when BAMB! IT STARTED TALKING TO ME! There was about 3 short sentences of information on the screen, with no useful information I couldn't have guessed for myself. (the iron... went on the stove?? shocking.) And then it kept talking, and it was incredibly frustrating. Meanwhile, in the background, a video was playing on loop showing old tree-cutting techniques. It was interesting, but I was annoyed. If I wanted to watch youtube, I would have watched youtube. I needn't go to a museum for that. There was no "press here to start a video," it was just looped over and over. Basically, please remove the frustrating pre-recorded messages in The Shed and adjoined sections. I actually really wanted to learn about the items, but was constantly interrupted. And it wasn't insightful interruption, it was annoying uncalled for blabber. Please give future people the choice - add buttons. I looked and found the outlets where the speakers were attached. I was extremely tempted to turn them off. The only reason I didn't was because I didn't know what else was plugged in and didn't want to turn off the lights by mistake. The exhibit was probably made to engage with a younger audience or something like that - but I am a teenager. And it really annoyed me. It made me sad. It was pretty much perfect otherwise. I love looking at how everyday life has changed, particularly relating to tech, just please remove the recorded messages forced upon anybody who enters. But aside from that, good museum, interesting stuff, family...

The Museum is an attractive building close to the Redcliffe shopping centre with dedicated parking area and free entry.

One of the earliest European settlement in Queensland, in its inception Redcliffe was dedicated to agriculture and livestock.

The various Museum exhibitions follow Redcliffe’s development from farmland to town land to seaside resort.

There are theme exhibitions such as the kind of implements that were used in the kitchen, in the laundry and on the farmland before electricity and machinery was invented.

Seeing those labor-intensive wood stoves for cooking, sickles and reapers for harvesting crops, and boilers, washboards and irons that had to be heated on the stove before they could be used, one can’t but be grateful to be living in the twenty first century where so much of what you do involves little more than...

Super little museum! Many different sections, not too big or too small, high-quality exhibitions, and located in a cool converted space adjoining a park. The temporary exhibition was fun and interactive, the short films in a cute little theater were neat, and I liked the shed – just the right amount of info to learn a lot. That axe video! 🤯 I got a great impression of Redcliff’s colorful past, which (as a visitor here) helped me to better appreciate the town in the present. An hour wasn’t enough for my first visit, so I came back another day to finish… so I’d suggest giving yourself 2 hours if you want to really take it all in. Best if all: Free! Friendly staff too, and not crowded on a...