Dowerin District Museum

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A charming museum in an old house built by a saddler.

This charming museum is built upon the legacy of one family: the O’Shaughnessy’s. It is housed in the original home built in 1915, for Eugene O’Shaughnessy the local boot maker and saddler. The collection provides an insight into Dowerin and the Wheatbelt, from the late 1800s and early 1900s. Learn about the history of locals like Ethel Cook and the Dowerin Drapery, or the Couper family and their portal organ. The building continues to have no indoor plumbing, not even in the kitchen. The original shopfront for E. O’Shaughnessy, Saddler and Harness Maker was relocated to the Museum site and the attached building holds the original leather-working machinery.

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View Collection at Collections WA

Address:

16 Cottrell Street
Dowerin WA 6461
Australia

Tel:

(08) 9631 1202

Email:

dowshire@dowerin.wa.gov.au

Opening Hours

Mon - Fri

1950s football boots

Kangaroo kickers

These ‘footy’ boots were made in the 1950s and look like they have never been worn. They were designed for Australian Rules Football players and probably made by the O’Shaughnessy’s. Eugene O...

Butcher’s sign

Bung fritz

Not many Western Australians would recognise the term 'Fritz' in this sign. It was a type of luncheon meat made of meat trimmings, flour, water and spices. Today in Western Australia we would call...

Portable organ

Night-time singalong

This organ was transported from Victoria by members of the Couper Family. Steve Couper and his brother Bob settled in Dowerin in 1897 and encouraged his parents and sisters to relocate to Dowerin. The...

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A farmer's love of windmills

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A lucky horse finds gold and over a hundred years later a museum moves into the old School of Mines.

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