Hood Penn Museum

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A family collection which turned in to a museum

This quirky museum includes several very realistic mannequins, including the friendly bartender from the old Edna May Hotel Bar! The collection was acquired as a donation from the Hood-Penn family which previously owned the Burracoppin Store, and includes Chris Penn's impressive bottle collection, acquired as a result of walking around Burracoppin. You can learn about the gold rush and mining history of Westonia, which was settled in 1910. The Museum features a variety of scenes highlighting early life in the shire, such as the pub, doctor's office, blacksmith/farm workshop and shop/hardware store. Visitors can enter a makeshift mine shaft that shakes to simulate blasting and rocks falling underground.

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Address:

38 Wolfram Street
Westonia WA 6423
Australia

Tel:

(08) 9046 7063

Email:

shire@westonia.wa.gov.au

Opening Hours

Mon to Fri 9am - 4:30pm, except public holidays; Sat to Sun 10am - 12pm; Summer Holiday weekends open by appointment only; Admission fees apply

18 carat gold brooch

Westonia's first nugget

In 1910, whilst prospecting and sandalwood cutting, Alfred David Weston found the gold nugget on this brooch. The nugget was the first of three he found in the area, and he had all three nuggets set...

Blue wool bathers

Salt air outback

These blue bathers were owned by a local man in the 1940s. Bathers like these, from the 1930s and 1940s, were made of wool and could be worn by men or women. Westonia was unusual in the region, as it...

Little blue truck

Recycled joy

In the early 2000s Richard Dunkley-Cooper found this truck, along with various other toys, in a shed on a friend’s farm north of the shire. He took them home and painted them for his two children, to...

Gwalia Historic Precinct

A ghost town with a mining history

The Gwalia Historic Precinct includes a ghost town and a museum featuring collections from the old Sons of Gwalia Mine and the Leonora district. The museum collection items are housed in the main shed...

New Norcia Museum

A taste of Europe in the WA bush

Enter New Norcia and you’ll feel as though you have stumbled upon another era. The magnificent buildings, monastery, olive trees and church bells feel as though they would be more at home in Europe...

Dead Finish Museum

Beers and bodies: a former pub and morgue now houses a museum

You can almost smell the beer flowing, and the conversation of sandalwood cutters and haulers in this museum, which is named after the old hotel in which it is housed. The hotel was affectionately...

The Newdegate Historical Society

Step back in time in the country to do some shopping in the 1950's.

Celebrating the heyday of the Hainsworth shop, café, and shop owner's quarters, you will feel as if you have walked straight into the 1950's. The Newdegate Historical Society has lovingly restored the...