Bridgetown Police Station & Orcharding Museum

25/03/2026

The International Council of Museums defined what a museum was/should be in 2022. Last year they wrote a book about interpretation of this definition.
This is the definition:
A museum is a not-for-profit, permanent institution in the service of society that researches, collects, conserves, interprets and exhibits tangible and intangible heritage. Open to the public, accessible and inclusive, museums foster diversity and sustainability. They operate and communicate ethically, professionally and with the participation of communities, offering varied experiences for education, enjoyment, reflection and knowledge sharing.
ICOM Museum Definition, approved on 24 August 2022

If anyone would like to know more, please go to this link:https://icom.jlbinfo.info/bibliotheque/jlbWeb?html=Bur&base=documentation&ref=51601&file=7742.pdf&path=ICOM_Definition_handbook_2025_EN.pdf

I, as Chairperson of the Bridgetown Historical Society who curates the Museum, believe that we fulfill these criteria for our museum but happy as always to discuss further :)

09/03/2026

17/02/2026

Yet more very positive feedback on our new Orcharding Museum from someone who's ancestor., Fred Clarke, was farming on Winnejup Rd at Rocklynn. The name Rocklynn and Clarke is on these boxes of a photo taken c.1913 of crates of apples waiting for export at Fremantle:

'My name is Stephen Meade and I visited your orcharding museum yesterday and was very impressed.
I have a connection to the Bridgetown area. My great grandaunt Sarah Ann Meade married Fred Clarke and settled in Winnejup.'

13/02/2026

Our new Orcharding Museum is up and running and has some very interesting and very rare exhibits.
Rabbit control between the wars was a huge issue and we have two machines that chopped/grated apples which helped to control rabbits. Mr Meade, of Winnejup property Rocklynn almost certainly used one of these machines to grate/chop his apples before adding the strychnine.
Thanks go to Steve Meade for sending me this article after he'd been through our museum.

06/02/2026

For those of you who are interested, this is the speech given by Mary who opened the new museum (pollies and the Gov General had been invited but declined).

06/02/2026

Yesterday we celebrated the opening of the Orcharding Museum, in the rear shed behind the Police Station Museum.
It was an invitation-only event but I thought others might enjoy making some of the fruit based cakes we served.

04/02/2026

The Museum is changing its name to embrace the new Orcharding Museum that is in the rear shed - we’ll keep you posted.
Yesterday we had an ‘official’ opening and invited all members, some coming from Perth and Waroona for the event, Shire Councillors, the CEO and Manjimup and Bunbury Historical Societies. It was a huge success and the new museum looks wonderful.
The museums are open on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays each week (10-2)

11/01/2026

What was a farmer doing with a buffalo hide weighing scale in Bridgetown c.1890??
Any clues gratefully received! This is one of several extremely rare items we are displaying in the newly created orcharding museum, in the rear shed of the Police Station Museum.

31/12/2025

Wishing all our Museum followers a wonderful 2026.

19/12/2025

The Museum will be closed between 23 - 29 December.
Have a lovely Christmas and hope to see you visiting our museum in 2026

07/11/2025

The new orcharding museum (at the rear of the Police Station Museum) is now open. We are very pleased with the overall presentation and it compliments the contemporary, award-winning Police Station Museum.
Come and learn about orcharding in Bridgetown, how it grew, how it died. We have several very rare pieces of orcharding equipment too. Still lots of exhibits to go into the glass cabinets, so we’re not quite done, but are doing our best to preserve the history of orcharding for your enjoyment.
Two rare maps of Bridgetown farms have also been printed - come and see where your family’s farm was.
There is a new, permanent exhibition of the Bridgetown timeline along the side verandah too - all this was done with a grant from the Native Forests Transition fund, for which we’re very grateful.

27/08/2025

Many of you in this group will know that we, the Historical Society, have been creating a new orcharding museum and new interpretive panels for the verandah and the museum. I had hoped that the museum would be open in September, however, we’ve had a serious setback on the panels. Opened the packages this morning to look at the 22 panels and to my horror, each package contained just one panel duplicated 10 or 12 times. So back to the supplier and I really hope the new panels will be issued very soon indeed. Onwards and upwards is all we can say!