Bruce Adams, Peter Apps, Rex Barton, and Mark Lyell have been hard at work preparing exhibition space at the Museum.
It has been a labour of love for the small group of volunteers working hard to prepare four new exhibition spaces at the Forbes and District Historical Museum. The upstairs space was originally hotel accommodation for the hotel which stood next door. With its beautiful timber ceilings and indoor toilet facilities, it really was a modern and luxurious space for guests in the early 1900s. For visitors in 2020, it is a building that one can feel fully immersed in the history of.
President of the Forbes and District Historical Society for three years, and member for eight, Bruce Adams, hopes to have the space ready in the next three weeks or so. With a small group of five hard working and passionate volunteers, Bruce has been seeing to the renovations of the enormous space. The upstairs exhibition rooms will be accessible via elevator and looks to make the Museum bigger and better than ever. Bruce and the team of volunteers are encouraging high school students to get involved, a plan that has seen some interruptions due to COVID-19.
The men working upstairs have really had their work cut out for them in transforming what was a flat into a clean and elegant space, worthy of exhibiting the incredible collection that is guaranteed to whisk visitors back in time, to the Forbes of the Gold Rush era and beyond.
The former Osborn Hall, built in 1878 was the main hall and place of entertainment for 12 years, before the Forbes Town Hall was erected in 1890. Throughout its existence the building has been utilised for a range of activities and purposes from dancing, to shooting, to a motor garage, and in 1970 it was opened as a Museum by the Forbes and District Historical Society and remains so to this day.