Hervey Bay Historical Village & Museum — Attraction in Scarness

The Hervey Bay Historical Museum opened in 1974 with one building which was the first Public Hall at Dundowran and donated by the residents there. Money was scarce, so volunteers made jams, pickles and sweets to sell at the Museum and markets. Joan and Norm Christiansen also wrote a small book, “THE LAMP STILL BURNS”, about the very early settlers to 1890.

Thanks to the volunteers’ hard work and dedication, by 1990, the Museum had increased to 13 buildings, filled with over 3000 fascinating exhibits from the early years in the Wide Bay area. There are now 21 buildings, 12000 exhibits and a group of dedicated volunteers, busily repairing the old buildings that were falling into disrepair and restoring buildings acquired in recent years.

In 1985 the Museum won a State Government award for its contribution to the local community. In 2006 , 2007 and 2008 we won the Fraser Coast & South Burnett Tourism Award for the Heritage & Cultural Tourism Category and in 2009 we were inducted into the Hall of Fame.

In Dec. 2007 the Historical Village held a charity event “Carols in the Village” and the proceeds went to the Salvation Army Xmas Hamper Appeal. Over $1660 was raised . 2008 saw us repeat the event, this time in aid of the local Riding for the Disabled group, raising $2000. By 2014 we have raised over $15000 for local charities.

Children from the Wide Bay area visit as part of their school curriculum.

The Museum is manned and maintained by a dedicated band of volunteers and each year the Museum sponsors a Christmas Party in the Museum grounds as a Thank You to our Members.

In 2007 and again in 2014, the Queensland Weekender visited the Village to shoot film for their programme on Channel Seven.

In 2013, we hosted the Hervey Bay 150th Birthday Celebrations, attended by the Governor of Queensland and many local and National politicians. In 2014, we celebrated our own 40th Birthday.

The Museum is situated at 13 Zephyr Street, Scarness and is open every Friday and Saturday from 1.00pm – 4.30pm , Sundays from 10.30am ’til 4.30pm and every afternoon over holiday periods. Admission is $10.00 for Adults, and $3.00 for Primary students, making it an inexpensive place to bring family or visitors. Under school age children are FREE.

The Museum can be opened any time for groups and schools. A new BBQ area is available to visitors/Groups at no extra cost. Two ParkSafe electric BBQ’s have been installed as well as a hot water dispenser. Picnic tables are now available in the shady Memorial Garden area The Church, non-denominational, is available...

We visited last year and loved it so much, we came down from Gladstone again to show my parents. The group of us (ages ranging from 10 to 70) had the best day and learned a lot.

The displays are very well looked after and the descriptions provided offer a great insight into how life used to be. It takes the whole day to see everything and you can't miss the demonstrations from knowledgeable locals. I loved that during the corn and rope demonstrations, David included some information about the traditional owners, how the suburbs got their names and the history of the museum itself, as well as some great stories from his own life. The blacksmith demonstration was interesting and informative, answering questions I wouldn't have even thought to ask.

My daughter was never interested in reading until our last visit, now she loves biographies from the past. Thank you all so much for inspiring the next generation to learn and take an...

It's soooo cool! I love it so much! It's really cool to see what everything looked in the olden days and also the people there are really nice and when you are there on Sunday 1:00 to 4:30 they give demonstrations where a guy actually shows you what they do like they show you everything about corn that they did back in the day and also he shows you how to make a rope with a machine over 100 years old and you get to make your own rope with a tag saying, "I made this rope on a machine over 100 years old at Historical Village And Museum.". They also have screen doors that you can see through at the church and they locked the screen doors at the church because some people don't feel comfortable in old churches so they locked it to respect those people but they still let you see through the door and you can also have a wedding in the church! Sorry if this is WAY too long. Kind...