The Lithgow Small Arms Museum will be getting an upgrade after receiving an $82,000 NSW Government grant.
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The money will go towards aluminium mesh screens to be installed on the front windows and large internal display panels, according to Museum president, Renzo Benedet.
“The mesh will give us reduction of heat inside and for that reason with heat and moisture, it will go a long way to preserving these artefacts and collections,” he said.
The installation of the panels won’t affect visitation as panels that need to be installed close to the entrance will be done on days the museum is closed.
“Installation should only take about 10 days so it will done quite quickly,” he said.
MP Paul Toole said it will also allow the facility to display light sensitive items like photos and paintings.
“The funding will see further improvements to the facility, mesh on the windows will stop some of the light coming, be able to improve the displays and also protect some of the items,” he said.
“Its important to fund museums like this because they are made up of hard working volunteers, they give of their time and are ensuring we have a facility like this in our local are to enjoy, this money is only going to enhance the opportunity to grow it, promote it even further.”
According to Mr Benedet the museum has 35 thousand artefacts and collection items with the oldest dating back to 1910 newspaper clippings, employee records, various drawings and blueprints of guns and the machinery to make those guns.
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“We have a fairly good collection, its fairly diverse, fairly comprehensive and we would regard that to be the most comprehensive in Australia and the most comprehensive of its type in the world,” he said.
Mr Benedet said the facility is important to the community because at its height in 1942 they employed 5000 people from a town with a population of 10,000.
“So you get the sense of the importance the factory made to this particular city, and then the social, economic and engineering feats that spread to other parts of the state,” he said.
Mr Toole said this grant was on top of a $100,000 that the museum received six months ago for improvements to the machinery shop.
“With the $100,000 we have fixed the sky lights, done rust proof painting, the floor is underway and we have done guttering and fixed the down pipes. We just have to do the windows but that will wait until it becomes cooler,” Mr Benedet said.
Mr Benedet said that the museum receives 9000 visitors a year and they are hoping that this investment will help them reach their target of doubling that number in the next three years.
Mr Toole said this money was to ensure this museum would be here for generations to come.
“People can come back and look at the weapons that were made here locally, and learn of the iconic Lithgow history,” he said.
“The museum is an iconic local tourist attraction and has one of the southern hemispheres biggest collections of firearms.”
Mr Toole said the project was funded through the club grants category 3 Infrastructure Grants program.
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