Australian Steam Museums
Links to other MELSA pages:
MELSA Home MODEL ENGINEERING
REGIONAL TOURISM
HISTORY OF STEAM PRE-1800
HISTORY OF STEAM 1800-1900
HISTORY OF STEAM POST-1900
ENGLISH STEAM MUSEUMS
Australian Steam Museums
Obviously from reading the "History of Steam Power" you will gather that a very large part of the evolution process took place in England and Cornwall. Not a lot of innovation appears to have occurred in Australia. Unfortunately, although there was quite a lot of steam plant and equipment both fixed and mobile brought to Australia from England and other counrties, we do not seem to have had the urge in Australia to preserve the little we did have that helped to build our country. The following is a far from complete list of steam museums and websites that will give a broad impression of the machinery that made the world in which we now live.
Railway Museums are quite numerous on the internet and so not many are listed below. Simply search "Preserved Steam Railway" or similar.
Cobdogla in South Australia near the border to Victoria. This museum holds a range of steam (stationary and railway) and Internal combustion engines.
Campbelltown to the southwest of Sydney houses a collection of vintage steam and internal combustion agricultural and industrial engines as well as a 2ft gauge railway.
Goulbourn Water Works further southwest from Sydney has a beautiful beam engine driving the pump. Whilst it is a restored steam engine, it is unable to run as at November 2011 as the boiler requires major repairs and cannot be fired.
Melbourne - the site of the Melbourne Steam Traction Engine Club. Links to many interesting steam and other sites.
Sydney Powerhouse Museum holds the earliest of Boulton and Watts' beam engines. Originally built in 1785 it worked in an English brewery for 102 years before it was replaced. Following it's removal from the brewery, it was relocated to the Sydney museum.
Turon Technology Museum is located 3 hours from Sydney at Sofala. It holds a broad collection of vintage steam and internal combustion agricultural and industrial engines.
Ipswich Railway Museum is just west of Brisbane. Based on the railway workshops, the museum holds a number of working steam trains that are used for occasional special tours.
Thirlmere Steam Railway Museum is southwest of Sydney and has an extensive history of railway engines and rolling stock.
Preservation of our Australian steam heritage is part of the Department of the Prime Minister/Office for the Arts/Movable Cultural Heritage/Agricultural and Industrial Heritage. No wonder it gets lost!