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2013
4 December 2013
Council to decide future of Kandos museum
The future of the Kandos Bicentennial Museum will be decided at the Mid-Western Regional Council meeting tonight.
Councillors will consider a report reviewing options for the future management of the museum, which has been closed since July 10.
Mid-Western Regional Council cited safety concerns for closing the building.
Council subsequently disbanded the Section 355 committee, following Code of Conduct complaints against some members.
A report to Wednesday's meeting recommends that Council undertake work to the value of $95,542 to bring the building up to standard and call for expressions of interest from members to the community interested in forming a five-member Trust to run the museum.
Subject to approval, council would call for nominations for the Trust in early 2014.
Council would then gift the museum and the adjoining property to the registered Trust, which would take over operation of the museum from its re-opening day on June 1, 2014.
Eighty-four per cent of respondents to a recent online poll in the Mudgee Guardian supported re-opening the Kandos Museum under the management of a community trust.
Other options include permanent closure of the museum, exhibiting a smaller selection of exhibits in a shopfront, reappointing a 355 Committee to operate the museum, or direct council management.
General manager Warwick Bennett's report rejects these options, arguing that forming a Trust would allow the Kandos community to manage an important cultural facilities.
Mr Bennett said the Gulgong and Mudgee Museums were example of community-run museums that operated successfully and reflected their communities.
The report to council includes a petition signed by 580 people, calling for the museum to be re-opened1 .
2014
12 May 2014
Mid-Western Regional Council approves extra funds for Kandos Museum
Mid-Western Regional Council has now taken its cost of upgrading and maintaining the Kandos Museum past $200,000 after more funds were allocated at Council's meeting on Wednesday.
The recommendation before council insisted an additional allocation of $66,500 for building upgrades to be funded from the asset replacement reserve fund. This would have taken current costs to $162,000.
Councillor Peter Shelley moved an amendment that sought a further $15,000 per annum for three years being allocated to operational costs of the museum ' taking total maintenance costs to $207,000.
He said without the additional $15,000 council would be setting up the museum to fail before being handed back to an incorporated community committee.
That's nothing in the big scheme of things,' Mr Shelley said.
He mentioned that in the report prepared by general manager, Warwick Bennett, the interim committee identified an operational cost of $35,000 per annum and had asked council to fund this over the first five years of operation.
Mr Bennett did not recommend this additional funding be approved by councillors.
Mayor Des Kennedy reminded councillors he did not want to see funds snowballing with costs already above $200,000.
Cr Max Walker asked whether the additional funds were justified considering both Gulgong and Mudgee ran museums that were self sufficient.
Cr Percy Thompson said council could not pull out now and owed it to the community to throw everything at the Kandos Museum.
Cr Thompson seconded Cr Shelley's amendment.
The interim committee will now see a delay in the transfer of ownership for 2.5 years to provide an avenue of protection should the incorporated association fail.
The committee has also been indemnified by council against any past decisions made by the council or previous committee.
Council closed the museum in July last year and disbanded the committee that had run it.
Credit: Darren Snyder2
20 May 2014
Garden working bee at Kandos Museum
A plan to rejuvenate the gardens at the Kandos Museum was put into action last week. The museum which has a commanding position on Buchanan Street looking down Jaques Street has been a little hard to see because its surrounding garden had become a 'little overgrown'.
With the help of local native plant nursery owner Carmel Spark, a plan to rejuvenate the garden has been developed and the first step got underway with a working bee on Wednesday, May 14 to lop and prune and open up the site line along Jaques Street so that the museum can be seen.
With 11 pairs of hands at work under the watchful eye of Peg Butler, a 'mountain' of loppings and thinnings was quickly made, destined for the shredder to be returned as garden mulch.
Mr Dawson, who as surveyor laid out Kandos and was a founder of the Methodist Church that is now the Museum, has several local plant species named after him. The most widely known is the Slaty Gum, Eucalyptus Dawsonii which has been widely used for railway sleepers across the region in past years.
The garden plan is to feature plants that have a historic connection to Kandos and the district, not only natives like the Dawsonii but also plantings that would have been used 100 years ago.
Buzz Sanderson, chair of the interim committee issued a big thank you to all those who volunteered to help. There is more to do in the gardens and more working bees to come,' he said3 .
27 May 2014
Kandos Museum secures extra funding
Kandos Museum has secured extra funding for building works and operational assistance. Interim Committee Chairperson Buzz Sanderson said that early in the refurbishments it became obvious that additional funding would be needed to ensure that the museum would be suitable and ready for re-opening for the Kandos Centenary Celebrations.
Working closely with Mid-Western Regional Council, the interim committee was able to identify the works that must be done and the works that would be nice to have done, and a schedule of works has been developed. Extra funding was required to achieve the goal of putting the Kandos Museum on a sound foundation and to have it open for the Kandos Centenary Celebrations.
At its May 7 meeting, Mid-Western Regional Council allocated an additional $66,500 for building works and $15,000 for operational assistance to the museum per year over the coming three years.
All of Council, Councillors and staff, are to be applauded for their efforts and support of the Kandos Museum,' Mr Sanderson said. This funding will be of great assistance to the museum, it goes a long way towards ensuring the museum's future.
With the refurbishment now well underway, the interim committee has decided to hold an Open House and barbecue to give people an opportunity to have a look at what's been going on at the Kandos Museum.
An open invitation is extended to everyone to visit the museum on Saturday, June 7 (June long weekend) from 12midday until 2pm. There will be a sausage sizzle by the local Rotary Club with tea, coffee and soft drinks available. Proceeds will go to support the museum.
Mr Sanderson said this will be an ideal opportunity to see how the renovations are progressing and see how the unique building was put together, its innovative features and to see how the building will operate as a museum4 .
6 October 1914
VICE REGAL
On Saturday morning, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Ret’d), Governor of New South Wales, accompanied by Mrs Linda Hurley, departed Sydney for Kandos.
In the afternoon, the Governor, accompanied by Mrs Hurley, unveiled a plaque and officially re-opened the Kandos Bicentennial Industrial Museum, as part of the Kandos Centenary Celebrations.
In the evening, His Excellency, accompanied by Mrs Hurley, viewed a Lantern Ceremony in the Town Square, symbolising the settlement of Kandos as a ‘Tent Town’, before attending the the Kandos Centenary Celebrations
Gala Ball at the Kandos Community Hall.
On Sunday morning, the Governor, accompanied by Mrs Hurley, delivered a reading from the Gospel of Matthew at an Ecumenical Service celebrating the Centenary of Kandos, at Rotunda Park, Kandos.
Afterwards, His Excellency and Mrs Hurley presented certificates to Kandos Pioneers (85 years young, born in Kandos and currently residing in Kandos) and subsequently cut the Kandos Celebration Cake, at celebrations marking the Centenary of the town.
In the afternoon, the Governor and Mrs Hurley returned to Sydney and subsequently attended the 2014 National Rugby League Telstra Premiership Grand Final match between the Rabbitohs and the Bulldogs, at ANZ Stadium, Sydney Olympic Park, Homebush5 .
21 December 2014
Council gifts Kandos museum to community
Mid-Western Regional Council has gifted the former Kandos Methodist Church to Kandos Bicentennial Industrial Museum.
The Buchanan Street land, buildings, contents and museum collection were transferred to the incorporated at council's Wednesday meeting.
The future of the Kandos Bicentennial Industrial Museum has been debated within the community and council for two years.
A report prepared by council said its preference was for a community-based incorporated association to control operation and ownership of the museum.
This association, having formed according to the appropriate guidelines provided by the Department of Fair Trading, has now been operating for some months with indications being that this has been a successful venture,' the report said.
Alongside the significant upgrade works that have been funded by council and that have been undertaken this year, the museum seems to be in its most viable state for many years with a mixture of enthusiastic new volunteers joining with some more experienced ones to progress the work at the museum and deliver an improved community, tourist and cultural experience.
Council's proposal to transfer possession of the property included the provision of $15,000 financial support annually for three years plus $6,600 for insurance.
Sixteen submissions were received during the exhibition with 10 in support of the plan and six opposed to it.
Among those against the plan was Naida Wills who addressed council.
It will set a precedence that no council can afford to set,' Ms Wills said.
Never before has $200,000 been spent of ratepayers money ' thrown into a building you intend to give away.
Please consider a three-year lease, it would help the community feel more comfortable.
Founding member, Margaret Butler, said she dedicated 25 years to the museum.
We have a great deal to thank council for,' Ms Butler said.
It's just so sad we now have two groups who want to control the museum.
President of the Kandos Bicentennial Industrial Museum Buzz Sanderson said the museum has a positive future ahead.
A lot has been achieved at the museum, a lot more than anyone in this room would have considered nine months ago,' he told council.
The museum, I think, has got a great future.
Credit: Elle Watson6
2015
9 June 2015
School students intrigued by Kandos Museum display
Kandos Public School students from Classes 2/3 Blue and 4 Orange walked to the Kandos Museum On Thursday, May 21 as part of their Integrated Unit 'Effects of Growth and Change' in our local area.
All students enjoyed the visit and were intrigued with the Jessica Hickman (The Lady Bushranger) display.
After the visit, students were able to discuss different ways the town and community has changed over the years using the artefacts they had seen as evidence.
The classes look forward to future visits and issued a big thank you to the museum staff who had to field many questions from lots of curious minds7 .
16 June 2015
Music night fundraiser for Kandos Museum
Folk guitarist and songwriter Matt Williamson and his trio will perform at the Kandos Museum on Saturday week, June 27 in what is shaping up to be a unique fundraiser for the museum.
The event will take place in the large hall and will feature a very stylish program of music, drinks and finger food.
Matt's songs evoke the landscape of the high plains of the Central West and the people who populate them.
His family has a long history of song dating back to the goldfields of Hill End and music lovers are looking forward to hearing his songs from his latest CD Conviction.
Tickets for the evening are $25 for adults and $15 school age. Light refreshments will be served and a bar will be available. Doors open at 6.30pm and the performance starts at 7.30pm.
Partners on the night will be Kandos High School (catering) and Beaurepaire Wines. Tickets are available on line by email at info at kandosmuseum.org.au, in person at the museum 10am to 4pm Saturdays and Sundays or at Down the Track Cafe in Kandos8 .
8 September 2015
MP to help unveil historic ambulance at Kandos Museum
Local state member for Bathurst Paul Toole MP will arrive in Kandos by train on the Kandos Express in time for the unveiling and official handover of the Kandos Cement Works Ambulance at the Kandos Museum on Saturday, September 19. A big crowd is expected to be at the Kandos Railway Station for the train's arrival at around 12.50pm.
Mr Toole will view the Pirate Festival on the Green before heading up to the museum for the unveiling at 2pm. Cement Australia representatives are also expected to be there and David Fuller, former cement works employee will also help take the covers off the historic vehicle.9
2016
7 April 2016
Kandos Museum 'over the moon' with $13,000 grant
Members of the Kandos Bicentennial Industrial Museum have come up winners through their successful application to the NSW Government's Community Building Partnership Program.
Member for Bathurst Paul Toole said: 'On receiving the news the members expressed they were 'over the moon' with the Grant of $13,006 to undertake landscaping and to install historic machinery at their site in Kandos.'
'The Museum is becoming a key attraction in our area and this Grant will go a long way in supporting ongoing development and enhancement of the collections and outdoor site.'
In association with the Community Building Partnership Program many groups such as the Kandos Museum have been provided with funds to assist them in developing their organisations10 .
11 July 2016
Tell your story at the Kandos Museum
Kandos Museum is asking people to record their connection to Kandos on video in a project called Kandos Connection - part of the oral history program at the Kandos Museum which will capture people's experiences and connection to Kandos.
'Many of our museum visitors have a connection to Kandos. They may have gone to school here, had a relative who lived here or simply have visited Kandos previously," Buzz Sanderson, President of Kandos Museum said.
'These stories of Kandos give us a different but wonderful understanding of the town, its people and what life was like in Kandos. It's a really interesting way to get to know a place."
To start the Kandos Connection project, the museum will be recording Connections as part of the Open Day on July 16. The museum is asking people to come along and record their connection on video with each story being about 1-3 minutes long following a simple format like an interview.
'We are hoping to build a really important archive of material through the Kandos Connection project. As time goes by these stories will grow in importance and will become a really important part of the story of Kandos," Mr Sanderson said.
The Kandos Museum, in partnership with Rylstone-Kandos Rotary, is holding an open day at the Museum, Saturday from 10am-4pm with barbecue, noon-2pm. Proceeds go to Kandos Rylstone Kids and Carers Support Group.
Established by the cement works in 1914, Kandos thrived as a modern 20th century town in a spectacular rural setting.
The cement works closed in 2013, Kandos Museum has a vital role in preserving the town's industrial and social history.
Credit: Brent Barlow11
27 June 2016
Kandos Museum exterior gets a revamp
Landscaping is underway at the Kandos Museum. As part of an upgrade to the outdoor display a new fence has gone up and work has started construction for terraces to display some of the equipment that was part of Kandos's industrial and agricultural history.
Buzz Sanderson, president of the Kandos Museum said they are looking to showcasing what was at the heart of Kandos.
'The display area will tie together machinery, work and material, and with Mudgee Dolomite and Lime doing a great job with the first 30 tons of limestone we couldn't be happier."
"Our thanks go to Paul Toole, our local member, who has helped us with funding for this project through the Communities Building Programme of the NSW Government," Mr Sanderson said.
Credit: Brent Barlow12
12 August 2016
Kandos Museum looks to expand
The Kandos Museum is looking to expand by adding a new building on the building block next door.
Cement Australia gifted the museum the steel frame, trusses, crane and crane bed from the powerhouse at the cement works in 2014.
'This is a very exciting project and being an engineer, one close to my heart," Kandos Museum president Dr Buzz Sanderson said.
'The powerhouse is constructed using Dorman Long steel, the same steel maker that made the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
'This steel is of significant heritage value to NSW and the engineering fraternity."
Demolition of the Kandos Cement plant was approved in late 2013 which included the demolition of the powerhouse.
Whilst some demolition at the plant has taken place, the powerhouse is intact.
'We plan to erect the powerhouse on the block adjoining the museum, at 20 Buchanan St," Dr Sanderson said.
'This will be a shorter version of the building which will be re-appropriated as exhibition and storage spaces, visitor centre and cafeteria.
'This is a long term project that will strengthen the museum as a museum and to bring more visitors to the Mid-Western Region boosting the region's economy."
Stage one of the project is to harvest the steel from the cement plant which the museum plans to get underway later this year13 .
2 September 2016
Lamb and Art of BBQ at Kandos Museum
Kandos Museum welcomes the start of spring this Saturday, September 3, with Lamb & The Art of BBQ.
The Masters of the Flame will be preparing butterfly leg, Cajun ribs, Koftas or the deliciously humble chop, complemented by wine from Kandos-Rylstone producers, Naked Lady Wines and De Beaurepaire Winesor or a beer, . Neill Duncan and John Stuart will be entertaining with great jazz licks. To purchase tickets visit 14 ">www.kandosmuseum.org.au/events14
20 September 2016
Kandos Museum outdoor display
Kandos Museum was a hive of activity recently with the installation of a ropeway tower standing over seven metres tall as part of the new outdoor display area.
The tower was previously part of Cement Australia's unique bucket system which delivered limestone from the quarry to the cement plant.
It has now been placed opposite Number 3 Ball Mill and is central to the planned display.
Museum president Buzz Sanderson said despite consistent rain in recent weeks, everything went to plan.
"In the main we managed to dodge the rain and get the ropeway tower up.
When complete, the museum will have all three types of ropeway bucket on display.
It's great to see this acknowledgement of what was such an important technology.
It was such an important contribution, to Kandos and industry.
The ropeway really did make it all possible given the steep exit out of the quarry," Dr Sanderson said.
The Museum's collection of girth gears has also come out of storage.
The girth gears were donated by Cement Australia to the museum two years ago.
When they arrived they were put into storage while building works were completed.
"These are beautiful in their own right.
The gears tell a much bigger story of how important the cement plant was not only to Kandos but to the nation."
The larger of the gears from the No four Raw Mill weighs 6000kg per half.
They are on display in the front garden of the museum.
The small gear weighing in at 1350kg per half is on display near the entrance to the museum.
Dr Sanderson extended a big thank you to Maceco and CGB Services for their help with storage, transport and installation.
Kandos Museum is open 10am to 4pm Wednesdays to Sundays15 .
2020
2 June 2020
We're not in Kandos any more, and it needs tourists
Cultural guardians across the state are in trouble, writes Linda Morris.
Buzz Sanderson needs 3000 visitors to walk through the door of the Kandos Museum by Christmas - and for at least half of them to buy tea towels on the way out.
Foot traffic is everything for a small-town museum. The admission fees pay the electricity and water bills, the rent, for lawn mowing, a lick of wall paint and even for the tea and coffee.
Without visitors, Mr Sanderson and his 30-member association will struggle to pay insurances on the attractive former Methodist Church, built in the Spanish mission style, which sits at the heart of this rare, post-Federation township.
Were the $8000 insurance bill due now, he would be consolidating the museum's collection of objects, photographs and information about the town's industrial, social and war history. He's only half-joking when he says: "I'd be putting it on eBay."
Hundreds of volunteer-run museums - responsible for the care of historic buildings and collections across the state - are struggling to rebuild from the pandemic lockdowns, and Kandos Museum, near Mudgee, is no exception.
Museum & Galleries of NSW has urged the Berejiklian government to provide emergency assistance to ensure all 300 community-managed not-for-profits, mostly in regional NSW, survive the government-enforced restrictions on public gatherings.
Alstonville Plateau Historical Society, which runs the Crawford House Museum, its collection of women's handicrafts and the local history research centre, estimates a loss of $5759 in income during the shutdown until July.
The museum's major fundraiser - its July quilt festival, which has raised more than $2000 annually and contributed to the rent of its community resource building - has been cancelled.
It's planning a low-key opening in early June.
"Because we are so far north, many of our visitors are from the Gold Coast - and they are not coming down," member Jane Gardiner says.
There's been a roster call-out for volunteers to reopen the museum, but the elderly among them, vulnerable to illness and worried by exposure post-pandemic, are unlikely to be back. "In the long term we might not open so often," Ms Gardiner says.
The museum's predicament is not unique. "In our area there are at least 23 small museums that could have the same problems," Ms Gardiner says.
Only the Tweed Regional Museum is fully funded by council; the rest are self-funded, with occasional grants from state governments or councils.
Nearby Brunswick Valley Historical Society, which runs the Mullumbimby Museum, estimates a shortfall of $7300, representing a massive 95 per cent fall in income.
Society president Stephen Hall said many volunteer-managed museums like his held little cash reserves to cover the loss in income. Seventy-five per cent of the society's operating income came from admission fees, sales and proceeds of a monthly market.
Volunteer-managed museums such as Kandos are seeking rent waivers from councils, says Museums & Galleries NSW chief executive Michael Rolfe. None are eligible for the $10,000 small business grant announced by NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet.
Create NSW says micro museums can apply for part of the $50 million emergency funding package provided for struggling not-for-profit arts and cultural organisations - funds that are to be determined on a case-by-case basis.
To lose any of these micro museums would be a tragedy for the townships they support and the guardianship of the state's precious heritage, Mr Rolfe says.
As the Kandos museum president, preparing to open its doors on June 5, Mr Sanderson wants to get the message out that micro museums such as his need visitors to return in great numbers.
"Small-town museums and galleries really contribute a huge quantity of content to the visitor economy. And for free," he says. "Very few people book into the Shady Rest Motel because of the bed linen; they come for some other content. So why can't this sector get support, like all the other parts of the visitor economy?"
Kandos, population 1261, brands itself as "the town that made the cement that made your town". Any of those early 20th century high-rises in Sydney CBD were probably made with Kandos cement, says Mr Sanderson, one of eight dedicated volunteers who put in the 120 weekly man hours needed to run the museum from Wednesday to Sunday.
During the days of the Spanish flu, the town was a model of lockdown compliance. Shopkeepers were asked to order goods by train, commercial travellers were asked not to visit, the cement company was asked not to employ outside labour, and a committee of 15 watched trains to report on new arrivals and persuade locals from plague-stricken Sydney.
The museum doubles as the tourist information centre, and the association has the lease on the railway station too, running heritage rail trips from Lithgow to Kandos before pandemic restrictions shut them down.
A few thousand guests could transform town life. "Footfall traffic is the paywall," Mr Sanderson says. "And if no one is coming through the paywall, then there is no love16 ."
2021
16 December 2021
The Kandos Museum is set to improve even further, here's how
Kandos Museum, fresh off a challenging year thanks - as is the case everywhere - to COVID restrictions is raring to go for a busy and exciting 2022.
This begins with a grant from the NSW Government to the tune of $19,995 that will allow two, 40 foot containers to be installed, fitted out, air conditioned and painted to create more space in the new upstairs café and viewing area.
This follows on from $16,000 that also came from the State Government last year to complete a coffee shop fit-out including seating, bench tops and work surfaces, refrigeration, electrical and plumbing works and appliances.
Member for Bathurst Paul Toole visited the Kandos Museum to make the announcement.
"The two containers will be placed back-to-back behind the container already added to the complex," he said.
"Holes can then be cut on the internal walls and windows added so as to create a more open and workable space.
"It's all part of the going efforts by Buzz Sanderson and his team of dedicated volunteers to improve the facilities at the Kandos Museum."
These upgrades are essential to keeping the museum thriving, but Buzz said more than anything it needs visitors. Especially during the Summer break, he predicts that travellers may be a little more hesitant than the last time COVID restrictions were eased.
The Mudgee Preschool community is saying goodbye to Lynn Canham after 31 years Biggest yet: Mudgee Christmas carols night makes a triumphant return "I think that there is certainly an appetite to kind of bust out. Quite frankly, as a little museum sector - this is just my personal view - I don't think it is sufficient to just say the door is open. I think you've got to go in there and actively sell and Kandos Museum has to do that," he said.
"We can always do with more visitation."
Kandos Museum is open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am - 4pm.
CREDIT: Benjamin Palmer17