Newcastle's iconic Maritime Museum will close its doors for the final time tomorrow.
Members of the Maritime Museum Society voted to wind-up operations yesterday due to the mounting cost of running the museum and a lack of volunteers.
Museum Society President, Ian Jones said that although the decision to close the Museum was regrettable, it's the right course of action.
"Ultimately, the prohibitive cost of running the Museum, coupled with the fact the Museum heavily relied on volunteers and donations, made it impossible to continue to operate in a sustainable manner," he said.
Newcastle City Council and the Hunter Development Corporation are working to preserve the city's maritime history, with the Newcastle Museum likely to inherit the NMMS collection.
Originally located at Fort Scratchley, the Newcastle Maritime Museum has been collecting interesting artifacts since 1972, exploring the rich maritime history of Newcastle and the Hunter River from early European settlement to the present day.
The museum has occupied it's current location on the foreshore at Honeysuckle for a decade - there's no word yet on what will become of the heritage-listed building which is owned by the Hunter Development Corporation.
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| Newcastle's Maritime Museum Is Closing Down Picture: msnsw.org.au |
