Dowerin District Museum

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A charming museum in an old house built by a saddler.

This charming museum is built upon the legacy of one family: the O’Shaughnessy’s. It is housed in the original home built in 1915, for Eugene O’Shaughnessy the local boot maker and saddler. The collection provides an insight into Dowerin and the Wheatbelt, from the late 1800s and early 1900s. Learn about the history of locals like Ethel Cook and the Dowerin Drapery, or the Couper family and their portal organ. The building continues to have no indoor plumbing, not even in the kitchen. The original shopfront for E. O’Shaughnessy, Saddler and Harness Maker was relocated to the Museum site and the attached building holds the original leather-working machinery.

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View Collection at Collections WA

Address:

16 Cottrell Street
Dowerin WA 6461
Australia

Tel:

(08) 9631 1202

Email:

dowshire@dowerin.wa.gov.au

Opening Hours

Mon - Fri

1950s football boots

Kangaroo kickers

These ‘footy’ boots were made in the 1950s and look like they have never been worn. They were designed for Australian Rules Football players and probably made by the O’Shaughnessy’s. Eugene O...

Portable organ

Night-time singalong

This organ was transported from Victoria by members of the Couper Family. Steve Couper and his brother Bob settled in Dowerin in 1897 and encouraged his parents and sisters to relocate to Dowerin. The...

Photograph of Mr and Mrs O'Shaughnessy

Family legacy

Mae Yolanda O’Shaughnessy (nee Holyoake) and Eugene O’Shaughnessy were married in Pingelly and honeymooned in Busselton, before settling in Dowerin in 1915, in the house now occupied by the Museum...

The Quairading Vintage Club

A scale model road train, one of the districts oldest tractors, and everything in between!

The Quairading Vintage Club was originally formed in the 1980s by a group of farmers and locals from the district. In 2018 the Vintage Club became associated with the Men’s Shed. The collection...

Shire of Wiluna Canning-Gunbarrel Discovery Centre

A stop on the edge of the desert

Wiluna is the southern gateway to the Canning Stock Route and the western gateway to the Gunbarrel Highway. The Canning-Gunbarrel Discovery Centre is housed inside the old Wiluna District Hospital and...

Kulin Branch - Wildflower Society of WA

A flora herbarium created by local wildflower enthusiasts.

Discover the unique Kulin wattle, Acacia kulinensis and the intriguing Black Toothbrush and Grevillea hookeriana amongst files of over 2000 wheatbelt flora species, which have been pressed and...

Pingelly Museum and Historical Group

Town hall houses an intimate collection

This intimate collection provides an insight into the innovation and flavour of country-life. Learn about local inventors and sports people and town history. Pingelly Museum and Historical Group is...