Horsham museum plan
A proposal to establish a regional museum in Horsham has gained further traction after municipal leaders agreed to continue pursuing the idea.
Horsham Rural City Council voted to receive stage one of a Horsham Regional Museum Feasibility Study on Monday night.
The council also voted to include the report in a Wimmera River and Central Activity District Vision and Concept Plan to ‘explore opportunities for progressing the study’.
A Horsham Regional Museum Working Group, established in 2016 and made up of Horsham Historical Society, Horsham RSL, council and community representatives, managed the study.
Development services director Angela Murphy said in a report to the council that ‘initial cost-benefit analysis was encouraging and sufficient to demonstrate the potential of a new Horsham Regional Museum’.
Cr Pam Clarke said in response to Ms Murphy’s report that the council needed to ‘dream big’.
She particularly reflected on report details that Horsham remained ‘one of the few major regional cities in Victoria without a dedicated centre for display of heritage collections’ and that community organisations and individuals in the district were in charge of significant heritage collections.
“I would like this to happen. I know we’re at the very early stages of what we can do or what we would like to do, but I think we need to dream big,” she said.
“It is really important that we keep our history, that we can actually celebrate it and people can come and look at the history of our community and this region.
“It is so important as a culture and a society that we have the capacity to look back. We need to tell our story.”
Cr Josh Koenig said Horsham had a lot of history to offer and it was something that would be great to see get up.
“An opportunity to bring more people into Horsham to learn about our history would be ideal. I’ve lived here my whole life and I’m still learning things. It’s exciting to see where this could go,” he said.
Crs David Grimble and John Robinson and mayor Mark Radford also spoke in support of the concept.
Cr Radford said it was important not to underestimate the importance of the project.
“Our history is a story we sometimes struggle to tell and I believe this project is a first step. We might not have a ‘gold’ history story like Bendigo or Ballarat, but in the Wimmera the story is based on hard work and determination and is a story worth telling,” he said. “Ms Murphy has identified some risks in her report, but the biggest risk I see is losing the people and their stories. Historical collections need to be displayed for all to see to tell the stories of young men and women who gave so much.”
Crs Grimble and Robinson stressed a need for the council to ensure stage one of the museum plans be available for public consumption and comment to gain a clear understanding of what people wanted.
Cr Grimble said he feared the significance of the project might be overshadowed if simply explored as part of the Wimmera River and Central Activity District Vision and Concept Plan.
He successfully asked the council to place details on public exhibition and seek public comment.