Located on the original Small Arms Factory site, this museum houses a fascinating collection that showcases an important part of the industrial heritage of our nation, and the weapons that armed it through two world wars to the present day.
The history of the Lithgow Small Arm Factory is about people - their aspirations, disappointments, and achievements, the economic and social hardships endured, the influence of our British heritage on Australia in the early 1900s, and sheer human stubborness. It is also about the introduction of new technologies into the emerging new nation. The Lithgow Factory was Australia's first high precision mass production facility.
The Museum was formed to celebrate this history, and has the largest displayed collection of modern firearms from around the world in Australia. Other displays include the commercial items produced between wars to preserve the valuable skills of the factory workforce, and show the production processes and social history of this renowned facility. In 2006 an extensive handgun collection was donated to the Museum and is on display in the Ron Hayes Gallery.
- Category:
- Museum/art gallery