A NEW permanent exhibition Federation Comes to Port has opened just in time for Heritage Week.
The exhibition, at the Port Macquarie Historical Museum, 22 Clarence Street, has been sported through funding from the Australian Government’s Your Community Heritage Program developed to assist communities to tell their heritage stories.
“This exhibition tells the little known story of Port Macquarie’s role in the federation of Australia,” Port Macquarie Historical Society president Debbie Sommers said.
“The people of the Hastings and Macleay electorate played an important role in the re-election of Edmund Barton to NSW Parliament in 1898 at a by-election, enabling him to pursue federation from within Parliament.”
The exhibition also explores the development of local government and the people and politicians who played a role in Barton’s election to the Hastings and Macleay seat in NSW Parliament.
The exhibition features many objects of national significance from the Port Macquarie Historical Society’s collection including a bust of Edmund Barton sculpted by Nelson Illingworth, completed ballot papers from the first Port Macquarie Municipal Council elections, a NSW Voter’s right from 1904, an invitation to Australia’s Centenary State Banquet in 1888, a Federation commemorative beaker and a beautiful embroidered pelmet with an Advance Australia motif and Australian flora.
