The old and the New

This is the Newcastle Museum.   The older buildings you can see to the right and left formed part of the old Honeysuckle railway workshops.  They are heritage listed, designed by John Whitton and were constructed between 1874 to 1886.  When I first moved to Newy in 1986, some of these workshops were still in operation.   The red structure out the front are two red hooks which are the original ladle hooks used in the BHP Steelworks.  The steelworks closed in 1999.  

Behind the red structure and linking the buildings is part of the new building.  The museum opened at this site in 2011 formerly being housed at the former Castlemaine Brewery in Hunter Street, Newcastle West.  From beer to trains.  The Museum (back at the former brewery) was opened in 1988 by HM the Queen as part of the bicentennial celebrations.  A friend of mine was a curator at the museum at that time and met HM.  There was a lot of etiquette and curtsying to be learned but she thoroughly enjoyed meeting the Queen.