Furneaux Museum
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    • Dryazell Cottage and Mrs Gray’s Room
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    • Whitemark Police Cells (1916)
    • Nissen Hut (1951)
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The Furneaux Museum is located at Emita on Flinders Island, Tasmania, one of the Furneaux Islands in eastern Bass Strait.

The Museum opened in 1965, and volunteers have been collecting artefacts and information about the region ever since. There are now over 8,000 objects, photographs and documents in the collection, all relating to the cultural and natural history of the Furneaux Islands.

Events which influenced the course of Australia's early colonial history occurred here. In 1797 a shipwreck brought Matthew Flinders to these then-unknown waters, leading to the discovery of Bass Strait. His reports of the abundance of seals led to the start of Australia's first export industry - seal skins. This resulted in the survival of Tasmania's indigenous population - the descendants of the sealers' Aboriginal wives.

Visit us to discover the people, places and events that have shaped the islands. Learn about the shipping and aviation history, pioneering life, the ill-fated 1833-47 Aboriginal settlement at Wybalenna, mutton-birding, soldier settlement, island families. See how isolation brought about a resourcefulness and strong community spirit which still exist today.

Here's what our visitors say:

  • A great surprise!
  • Top little museum - well laid out and very informative.
  • A must-do on Flinders Island.
  • Give yourself at least 2 - 3 hours.
  • A wonderful insight into the life and history of Flinders Island.

THE ESSENTIALS

COVID-19

The Museum is currently open as usual, operating with a Covid Safety Plan. All visitors are asked to
– sanitise hands on arrival and departure
– sign in on arrival for tracing purposes
– observe people-limits displayed in each room, and
– not visit if unwell

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OPENING HOURS

> 26 DECEMBER – 30 APRIL
Every day 1.00-5.00pm
Closed Christmas Day and Good Friday

> 1 MAY – 24 DECEMBER
Saturday & Sunday 1.00-4.00pm
Monday to Friday by appointment subject to availability of a volunteer.  Please text Linda 0418 345 989 or email furneauxmuseum@gmail.com  with at least 48 hours notice.

Admission: $5.00
Payment by cash or phone banking transfer.
No cards.

Most visitors find at least an hour is needed for a visit to the Museum. Read more>

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THE MUSEUM COLLECTION

The collection is on permanent display in five small buildings of local historical significance.  Read more> We also stage temporary exhibitions on particular themes.  Read more>

Current temporary exhibition:
Triumphs and Tragedies – Shipwrecks of the Furneaux Group
3 October 2020 – 30 April 2021. Read more>

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NEWS

One of the Museum’s most interesting artefacts will feature in an exhibition opening in Launceston in April. It’s a hand-embroidered silk postcard, sent by Will Maynard during the First World War to his sister on Cape Barren Island . Will had volunteered for the Australian Imperial Force and was in England completing his training. Two weeks after writing the postcard he was posted to France where he was listed as missing in action, presumed killed.

The exhibition 10 Objects – 10 Stories opens at the Queen Victoria Museum on 12 April 2021 and runs until 27 June.

Stage 2 of the Furneaux Geotrail  will be completed in 2021. In 2019 we partnered with Parks & Wildlife to create ten Geotrail visitor sites on Flinders Island, all accessible by car. Stage 2 will cover more remote sites accessible on foot. The Geotrail uses a mobile web app to provide information about the landscape at each site.  Read more about the Furneaux Geotrail here>

Will Maynard’s postcard, 1917

8 Fowlers Road, Emita, Flinders Island                 PO Box 19, Whitemark, TAS 7255          furneauxmuseum@gmail.com

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