About Us

Closed from 12 - 1pm Daily for Lunch

Opened in 1970 we are essentially a folk museum, housed in a prominent heritage-listed building.  Our extensive collection comes almost exclusively from Glen Innes town and surrounding district.

A not-for-profit, community-based organisation, the Glen Innes and District Historical Society Inc. was formed in 1968 and negotiated the lease of the former Glen Innes District Hospital building (1877-1956).  Subsequently, ‘The Land of the Beardies History House Museum & Research Centre’ was opened on the 24^th January 1970, by Lieutenant Colonel Sir Michael Bruxner DSO.

Commencing without initial financial grants or funds, the Society was grateful for several substantial donations to assist it in the museum’s establishment. What it lacked in finance was compensated by the enthusiasm, commitment and willingness of its small band of volunteer members, who turned up every weekend for the six months prior to the opening, to work at setting up displays and turning what was then a rundown, neglected building into a museum.

An eventful half-century on, the Society can be very proud of what the early members and the many subsequent volunteers have achieved. Today we are the custodian of over 10,000 items on display or in storage, around 63,000 photographs on file, and the Research Centre has over 300,000 cards recording the history of this area. It is ongoing today, and we receive frequent artefact and document donations to add to the ever-growing Museum collections. The collections are local in nature, in that all items have a history related to someone, something, or somewhere in the local area. Our volunteers know many of the more interesting stories relating to the items and are happy to share these with our visitors.

Over the course of those 50 years the Land of the Beardies has forged a high reputation as a respected major regional museum. We are recording history as it happens, and this will be passed on to future generations.

Opening Hours