Description: The Busselton Museum housed in the town’s Old Butter Factory is the largest museum outside Perth. It provides an insight into the events that helped shape Busselton. The community put the museum together for the benefit of the community and visitors alike and is an incredible collection of items of every sort and size from all around the area. The collection pays special attention to the Group Settlement Scheme of the 1920’s which shaped the South-West development.
This federal, state and British governments' Scheme saw a wave of settlements in the region. Under it settlers were to work in small groups to develop dairy farms to address Western Australia's reliance on imported dairy products. There was also a prevailing belief at the time that everybody should have a chance to be a farmer and that it was necessary to settle as many families as possible in the bush. This scheme became part of a significant 6,000 family British migration programme.
The participants endured hardship and isolation. Farmers had to cart produce and supplies along hand cut tracks as the railway only reached the region in 1924. By July 1927, farmers has abandoned 72 blocks of land and 124 blocks had combined from the 923 blocks in the Busselton area alone. The rate of abandonment increased after the onset of the depression in the 1930's as the number of livestock carried on each farm proved to be too small for profitable survival.
The Scheme described as a 'glorious failure' closed in 1930 but it had managed to set up a dairy industry which still flourishes in many parts of the South-West. It also created several townships and created improvements in transport and communication including a rail link with Perth.
The butter factory continued in operation and during the 1939 - 1945 war prospered and during the boom period which followed the factory reached peak production of about 30 tons each week. It also ran an iceworks, supplying the town and fishermen with ice before the days of household refrigeration. High overheads during the off-season, coupled with more efficient road transport caused its closure and Busselton also stopped making butter in 1952. A dried milk plant set up in the factory also eventually stopped production. The property served as a depot for trucks and tankers until closing in 1973 and the museum opened in the same year.
The 10 display rooms contain photographs, equipment and memorabilia which trace the family, social, civic, commercial and maritime history of Busselton. They cover everything from agriculture to whaling; from crockery, clocks and cameras to sewing machines, travel and transport. The one-hectare site nestles on the banks of the picturesque Vasse River and the museum even has a replica of the original Jetty Rotunda.
At the museum you can walk through a genuine home and a one-teacher school from the 1920s.These give an idea of how life would have been for the settlers. You can even listen to old records on the gramophone and marvel at the beautiful garments worn over 100 years ago. Visit the boiler room and creamery to see machinery used to produce butter and cheese.
Most touching is the pair of chairs made for the royal visit of the newly installed Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in 1954 and the letter of thanks from the Queen in which she wished them good fortune in developing their community.
Being of farming stock the display of farm and butter making machinery was of special interest to me but there are lots here for everyone to enjoy.
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