Kingston SE National Trust Museum

13/05/2026

🚂 History Month Highlight: Celebrating 150 Years of the Kingston–Naracoorte Railway

This Sunday, our neighbours in Kingston SE are marking a wonderful milestone, 150 years since the opening of the Kingston–Naracoorte Railway, the very line that helped shape the South East’s early wool and agricultural industries.

The railway played a huge role in connecting our region’s farms, stations, and communities to the wider world. It’s a story close to the heart of places like the Sheep’s Back Museum, where we celebrate the people and industries that built the Limestone Coast.

If you’re heading towards the coast this weekend, the Kingston SE National Trust Museum will have a special display of photographs and memorabilia open for History Month.

📅 Sunday 17 May
🕜 1.30pm – 4pm
📍 Kingston SE National Trust Museum, 23 Cooke St
🔗 Event details: https://festival.history.sa.gov.au/events/celebrating-the-150th-anniversary-of-kingston-to-naracoorte-railway/

A lovely way to honour our shared history across the region.

11/05/2026

🚂 HISTORY IS PULLING INTO THE STATION NEXT WEEK 🚂

A little reminder to mark your calendars for our special South Australian History Festival event:

𝗖𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟭𝟱𝟬𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗻𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗡𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗼𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗲 𝗥𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆

Join our enthusiastic volunteers as they share the photographs and memorabilia behind one of the South East’s most important transport links.

📅 Sunday, 17th May
🕜 1.30pm – 4pm
📍 Kingston SE National Trust Museum
23 Cooke Street, Kingston SE

🎟 Adults $10 | Children $5

From freight and farming to passengers and progress — discover how the railway helped shape the region we know today.

We hope to see you there!

08/05/2026

🚂 ALL ABOARD FOR A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME 🚂

The Kingston SE National Trust Museum is proud to be joining the 2026 South Australian History Festival with a special local event:

𝗖𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟭𝟱𝟬𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗻𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗡𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗼𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗲 𝗥𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆

Step back to 1876 and uncover the story of the first railway in the South East — the line that connected the Port of Kingston with the inland agricultural hub of Naracoorte and transformed travel, trade and life in the region.

Our enthusiastic volunteers will guide you through a fascinating collection of photographs and memorabilia illustrating this remarkable chapter of local history.

📅 Sunday, 17th May
🕜 1.30pm – 4pm
📍 Kingston SE National Trust Museum
23 Cooke Street, Kingston SE

🎟 Adults $10 | Children $5

Whether you’re a history lover, railway enthusiast or simply curious about the stories that shaped our region, we’d love to welcome you aboard.

23/04/2026

Save the date - 17th May, 1-30 - 4pm @ the museum! Celebrating 150 years of the Kingston to Naracoorte Railway.

19/04/2026

31/03/2026

As many have noted, the town hall is looking gorgeous in its new paint job that finally captures it's art deco lines. So, it seemed a good time to share this curious bit of ephemera from our collection - the official programme from the Institute's opening in 1938.

It's an odd little book, which for some reason includes an early history of Kingston, sitting side by side with photos of early councillors, the king and queen, and the golf club members of 1903. Vintage ads for long gone businesses who sponsored the programme or helped with the building are a feature, one even urging holiday makers to take a bus to the Flinders ranges (first class for just six guineas). Photos of movie stars of the day and posters for upcoming 'fillums' add some Hollywood glamour. Touchingly, there is also a tribute to the old institute, one of Kingston's earliest public buildings, which was demolished in 2008 despite a valiant campaign by STOIC (a story for another day).

The opening for the new institute was a 4 day event beginning with the grand opening, continuing with a locally made play, a children's fancy dress ball including the crowning of the Queen of Kingston, and concluding with Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy in Rose Marie on Saturday night. And dancing, lots and lots of dancing. What a time to be alive!

Since 1938 our hall has been the centre of many events and social occasions but seems most loved in memory as where young ladies learned to dance in preparation for their debut, and as a picture theatre. Val Victory(nee Randall) recalled going to the pictures there as a child and buying sweets on movie nights at the house across the road (the one with the big shell), as well as she and her siblings sitting with their feet on the cash box after their father had finished selling the tickets. Others would recall the movies coming in by train and having the train pull up right outside so the reels could be unloaded.

What's your favourite town hall memory?

22/03/2026

It was a special service.

21/03/2026

The dedication of the memorial is today. All welcome

17/03/2026

'Out with the new, in with the old,' just about sums it up for this NSW lighthouse https://www.facebook.com/share/v/186of5ojgz/

10/03/2026

Thanks for being a top engager and making it on to my weekly engagement list! 🎉 Sharryn Tiller, Carol Koch

09/03/2026

It's all the little stories, and ingenuity that make the displays at the Kingston SE Model Railway & Hobby Expo so much fun. On until 4pm today @ the town hall.