A new exhibition of rare and unique items from the Rocky Hill War Memorial Museum will open this Saturday, August 26 at 2pm.
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Memorabilia & Memories: highlights unusual items in the collection.
Mayor Bob Kirk and Member for Hume Angus Taylor will be opening the exhibition from 2pm, with the community welcome to attend.
The Rocky Hill War Memorial Museum was established December 1925, the year the Memorial opened to the public. T
The Director of the Australian War Memorial during the 1920s, John Treloar, declared that the collections at the museum placed Goulburn as a: “city in a position to establish a country war museum which should be unexcelled in NSW, and a source of great interest to citizens and visitors.”
Today, the museum houses a diverse collection of over 6,000 items, of military, historical and social importance, with connections to Goulburn, the majority of which have been donated.
The collections includes firearms, photographs, uniforms, military heraldry and technology, works of art, archival material and memorabilia from the mid-19th century to today, all related to conflicts in which Australia has served.
Within these collections are a number of particularly rare, unique or unusual items, often they are the only one in the collection, have survived the war in which they were used or have a particular personal or military significance.
Some of the items on display in the exhibition include:
*Turkish Ball grenade: This bomb was used during the First World War and the complete (undamaged) example at the museum is a Turkish service hand grenade, complete with a side flange.
*Medals from the Crimean War: The medals on display were donated to the museum by a family descendant of Able Seaman Pidoux for his services in the Crimean War in 1854 and 1855 in Russia.
*The Lusitania Medal - The iconic design of the original medal was created by the German medalist, and was later copied by the British for propaganda purposes during World War I. The satirical medallion was struck in August 1915 to mark the sinking, by a German U-boat, of the ship Lusitania on 7 May 1915. The sinking of the Lusitania was a controversial event and British copies were widely distributed as anti-German propaganda.
*Dead Men’s Penny - The Dead Man’s Penny is a commemorative medallion presented to the next-of-kin of the men and women who died during the First World War. Dead Man’s Pennies were accompanied by a letter from King George V. Not all families were happy to receive the commemorative medallion – some families returned the medallions to the Australian Government in protest at the loss of their loved ones.
Rocky Hill War Memorial tower is open 7 days per week.
The Memorial Museum is open to the public from 10am to 3pm on Wednesdays and from 10am to 4pm on weekends, public holidays and school holidays.