'society Built On Selfless Service'
Illawarra Mercury
Thursday March 20, 2008
THE Illawarra Historical Museum was established in 1966, 22 years after the the Illawarra Historical Society first took shape.
The post and telegraph office building in Wollongong's Market St became its home, where a collection of artefacts relating to the Illawarra region and its pioneers were put on display.Since then, volunteers have fitted out the museum and maintained the exhibits.On the upper level is a parlour, bedroom and schoolroom. The ground floor has a craft room and two rooms used for alternating displays and travelling exhibitions.The courtyard has a colonial kitchen, laundry, blacksmith's shop, air raid shelter, stockman's hut and a farm implement shed.Wollongong solicitor Jaak Peedo, who has chaired the historical society's annual meetings for the past two years, but is not a member, said the society's focus had been on "selfless community service centred on our region's history and heritage". He is dismayed that its members are now concerned at the prospect Wollongong City Council's methods of formalising a lease could put the museum's future in doubt."Surely, if this were to occur, the museum itself would almost certainly be forced to close, thus depriving Illawarra residents of their only regional outlet of its kind," he said.
© 2008 Illawarra Mercury