Winner

Queensland Air Museum

Celebrating 50 years of preserving Australia’s aviation heritage in 2024, the Queensland Air Museum is the second-oldest aviation museum in Australia and a key tourism attraction on the Sunshine Coast, welcoming over 25,000 visitors annually. Its success is driven by a proactive management team and over 185 dedicated volunteers, who contribute more than 38,000 hours annually. These volunteers bring to the organisation their diverse skills and an unwavering commitment to the Museum’s mission.

In recent years, working with the Sunshine Coast Heritage Services team and the region’s Queensland Museum Senior Museum Development Officer, Josh Tarrant, the Air Museum has made significant strides in professionalising its operations, refining policies and procedures, and enhancing visitor engagement. It boasts Australia’s largest and most diverse collection of historic aircraft, aero-engines, artefacts, and aviation memorabilia. The immersive Boeing 737-800 simulator, themed open days, and cultural events like Opera and Jazz nights in Hangar 2 are highly popular and enrich the visitor experience.

Highly Commended

Commissariat Store Museum of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland

Operating from the historic Commissariat Store in Brisbane, RHSQ delivers a dynamic program of exhibitions, lectures, conferences, and publications, all powered by a dedicated volunteer workforce of over 50 individuals. 

During the three-year Engaging Brisbane project, supported by the Brisbane City Council’s Historical Organisations Assistance Grant, RHSQ undertook significant conservation and Museum upgrades, including digitising its 10,000-item collection into the international-standard eHive database. This initiative, driven entirely by volunteers, enhances public access to Queensland’s rich historical artefacts. 

The Royal Theatre Winton Museum, Winton Movies Inc.

The Royal Theatre Winton Museum, developed by Winton Movies Inc. (WCI), is a remarkable example of community-led heritage preservation and cultural storytelling. Through the dedication of volunteers and the Evert family legacy, this project has transformed a historic open-air theatre into a vibrant museum space that celebrates the rich cinematic and social history of Winton and outback Queensland. 

Royal Theatre Winton Museum is a testament to the remarkable team of volunteers and their unwavering vision. The Museum has reconnected the Winton community with its heritage, while attracting new audiences through events like the Vision Splendid Outback Film Festival. It has created a space for education, tourism, and celebration, and has become a beacon of pride for locals. Additionally, the Museum’s development has supported regional economic activity, volunteerism, and intergenerational storytelling.

Finalists

Ipswich Hospital Museum

Since its opening on March 3, 2010—150 years to the day since the hospital admitted its first patient—the Ipswich Hospital Museum has served as a vital link between Ipswich’s past and present health services.

Located in the historic Jubilee Building on Denmark Hill, the Museum houses a significant collection that reflects over 160 years of healthcare history. The significance assessment conducted in 2019 has ensured that the items displayed resonate with the community’s rich heritage, reinforcing the Museum’s role as a custodian of local history. These items serve as the foundation for the Museum’s current exhibition display, The Historic, Aesthetic, Scientific, Social and Cultural Items of Significance.

Vera Scarth-Johnson Gallery

The Vera Scarth-Johnson (VSJ) Collection Revitalisation and Gallery Redevelopment Project is a shining example of community-led heritage preservation and creative exhibition design. Led by volunteers from the Vera Scarth-Johnson Foundation, in partnership with Cook Shire Council, this project honours the legacy of Vera Scarth-Johnson OAM—botanical illustrator, conservationist, and Cooktown resident. Vera created over 150 botanical artworks inspired by the Endeavour River Valley and her deep respect for Guugu Yimithirr culture. Vera gifted her Endeavour River Valley series to the people of Cooktown in 1990, and since 2000, the collection has been housed at Nature’s Powerhouse in the Cooktown Botanic Gardens and cared for by the Vera Scarth- Johnson Foundation’s dedicated volunteers.