Hood Penn Museum

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A family collection which turned in to a museum

This quirky museum includes several very realistic mannequins, including the friendly bartender from the old Edna May Hotel Bar! The collection was acquired as a donation from the Hood-Penn family which previously owned the Burracoppin Store, and includes Chris Penn's impressive bottle collection, acquired as a result of walking around Burracoppin. You can learn about the gold rush and mining history of Westonia, which was settled in 1910. The Museum features a variety of scenes highlighting early life in the shire, such as the pub, doctor's office, blacksmith/farm workshop and shop/hardware store. Visitors can enter a makeshift mine shaft that shakes to simulate blasting and rocks falling underground.

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Address:

38 Wolfram Street
Westonia WA 6423
Australia

Tel:

(08) 9046 7063

Email:

shire@westonia.wa.gov.au

Opening Hours

Mon to Fri 9am - 4:30pm, except public holidays; Sat to Sun 10am - 12pm; Summer Holiday weekends open by appointment only; Admission fees apply

Little blue truck

Recycled joy

In the early 2000s Richard Dunkley-Cooper found this truck, along with various other toys, in a shed on a friend’s farm north of the shire. He took them home and painted them for his two children, to...

Blue wool bathers

Salt air outback

These blue bathers were owned by a local man in the 1940s. Bathers like these, from the 1930s and 1940s, were made of wool and could be worn by men or women. Westonia was unusual in the region, as it...

18 carat gold brooch

Westonia's first nugget

In 1910, whilst prospecting and sandalwood cutting, Alfred David Weston found the gold nugget on this brooch. The nugget was the first of three he found in the area, and he had all three nuggets set...

Narembeen Historical Museum

A town full of museums!

The best way to see this collection is by a guided walk around Narembeen. The collection sits over four sites, all within walking distance of the Narembeen Road District Board building, the main...

Old Police Complex

A country police station

The first Laverton police station is described by the guide as ‘tents, tin and fibro,’ with the prisoners brutally chained to logs. In 1899 the original jail was moved from the close-by settlement of...

Old Newcastle Gaol

Harsh realities of early prison life on show at Newcastle Gaol Museum

Enter Newcastle Gaol Museum and find yourself hurtling back in time to imagine life as a prisoner here from 1865 to the early 1900s. The tiny cells are most disturbing, particularly the Aboriginal...

Norseman Historical Museum

A lucky horse finds gold and over a hundred years later a museum moves into the old School of Mines.

This museum has one of the most unusual and quirky items you will ever see - ask to see the typewriter keys! (Story below). Norseman Historical Museum celebrates the Goldfields, mining and local...