Location: River Street Yamba, NSW 2464
Website: www.pyhsmuseum.org.au
Yamba Museum – the Story House was established in 1981 by the Port of Yamba Historical Society. The society is a not for profit organisation entirely composed of volunteers who donate both their time and expertise for all the society’s programs, including the running of the museum.
The museum’s central location in the heart of town, near the golf club, makes it a must visit site for any visitor to Yamba. From here you will see displays that focus on the settlement of Yamba and Yamba’s strong maritime history.
Objects included in the collection highlight Yamba’s historical diversity and include the shark-bitten surfboard, a telescope that once belonged to Francis Freeburn, a pioneer of the town and the first pilot, and a mock schoolroom display.
For those looking to conduct research on the town of Yamba, the town’s museum is a great place to start. The society provides a service to the general public wishing to research enquiries related to the Yamba people’s history, events and places. One of the societies very own researchers, John McNamara, has been awarded the Royal Australian Historical Society Achievement Award for research work and publications carried out for the society.
The museum boasts of over 2,000 historical photographs and numerous documents and records relating to Yamba town that are accessible to researchers. Some of the documents include school photos from the town and enrolment registers that date back to 1882; microfilms of local newspapers dating back to 1859; a database of historical property ownership and other important documents.
The museum also has a bookshop with books about Yamba’s buildings, surrounds, industry and historic people. These are great reads that will give you an insight of how life used to be during the early days of the town.
From the museum, guests from out of town get to learn about the amazing sites around Yamba they could visit. The famous Yamba Historical walks start at the museum where you can scan a QR code using your smartphone to get a map/app of the course or pick up a colourful brochure of the same. Beautiful postcards are also available at the location.
The Yamba Museum is open Tuesday to Thursday from 10am to 4.30pm and 2pm to 4.30pm on weekends. It remains closed on Mondays and Fridays.
Come have fun while learning about the history and culture of the people of Yamba!
