Wingham Museum

Wingham Museum is operated by the Manning Valley Historical Society and is listed as a National Trust building, dating from the 1870s.

The building has operated as a General Store for much of its life and this identity is still preserved in many of the exhibits, all of which were donated by local people.

Advertisements dating from September 1886 show that the store sold a diverse arrange of goods ranging from clothing and haberdashery to ironmongery, crockery, patent medicines, wire netting, rope and saddlery.

The collection today is just as diverse featuring photographs, textiles, furniture, household items, musical instruments and farming machinery relating to the lives of the early settlers etc.

The museum also displays material relating to the life of Jimmy Governor, whose story was immortalized in The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith by Thomas Keneally, and includes the very cell in which he was held before his transfer to Sydney where he was tried and executed.

Manning Valley Historical Society was formed in 1964 and is a not-for-profit organisation run by volunteers. Wingham Museum was opened in 1968 by Nancy Bird Walton, the well-known aviatrix.

Displays and exhibits are regularly updated and maintained.

The Museum Shop

Our shop sells a range of books relating to the Manning Valley as well as handicrafts and souvenirs, to remember your visit to the museum and the historic town of Wingham.