Irwin and Districts Historical Society Overview

Irwin Districts Historical Society and Russ Cottage

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Old prison protects pioneering history

Wander through the old police house and court rooms which today house the vast Irwin Districts Historical Society collection and you can almost hear the click of chains which once bound prisoners here. So imposing is the building that Dongara continues to hold court here every second month in the hope of deterring would-be offenders. Be sure to peer into the depths of the well out the back, check out the historical artefacts in the old stables and walk the outline of a cell which was once crammed with Indigenous prisoners. These men had been marched to the tiny cell to await transport and horrendous conditions at the Rottnest Island Prison on Wadjemup. While you are in Dongara, you can also visit Russ Cottage Historic House Museum at 1 St Dominics Road, Dongara, and The Packout Room Pop-up Museum at 3 Macintyre Cove, Port Denison.

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View Collection at Collections WA

Address:

5 Waldeck St
Dongara WA 6525
Australia

Tel:

(08) 9927 1323

Email:

idhs@midwest.com.au

Opening Hours

Mon to Sat 10am to 12pm

Organ

One family’s history through melody

This organ could play the melody of the lives of Western Australia’s European pioneers, having once been owned by the first European girl born in the Swan River Colony. Built around 1820, the pedal...

Dress

Stepping out in style

In May 1927 a Muriel Henning, wife of WA politician Charles Harriott Henning joined the country’s upper echelons for the opening of Parliament House in Canberra, wrapped in the velvety embrace of this...

Wildflower bag

Wildflower tourism emerges

While locals had long admired the profusion of dazzling wildflowers which erupted around Dongara each spring, it wasn’t until the 1960s that wildflower tourism emerged. The Midland Railway Company...

Gascoyne Junction Museum

Tiny museum provides glimpse into pastoral and mining past

This tiny museum is housed in the old Upper Gascoyne Road Board building, constructed in 1912. It features a collection which provides a glimpse into the region’s colourful pastoral, mining and...

Carnarvon Space and Technology Museum

Carnarvon's role in the race to land humans on the moon

Carnarvon may not be the most likely place you’d expect to encounter world-changing space technology but it once played a key role in the global race to land man on the moon. The Carnarvon Space and...

Cervantes Historical Society

A rollicking shipwreck and community past

This delightful collection of artefacts tells the story of Cervantes’ rich shipwreck history, its fishing past and the community that rolled up their sleeves and shaped their coastal township through...

Moora Historical Society

From military to medical - Moora’s post-colonial history captured in a series of varied displays

The enthusiastic team of volunteers at Moora Districts Historical Society has built a vast repository of information and artefacts about the region’s local history at Moora Museum. One whole building...