Lovers of history can again explore the treasures in the Lismore Regional Museum on Molesworth Street.

The museum has reopened its doors after a few months of Covid-19 induced dormancy, but it is operating on limited hours because of a shortage of volunteers.

Richmond River Historical Society president Robert Smith said the museum and its research room are particularly short of volunteers on Tuesdays and Fridays.

“Due to the extra work for our volunteers due to Covid19 requirements, we can only open on Tuesdays and Fridays from 10am-1pm,” he said. 

“We are being careful with Covid safety procedures and have maximum numbers in rooms and hand cleaning.

“We could stay open longer if we had more volunteers.

“Our normal hours were usually 10am to 4pm on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.”

If you are keen to volunteer at the museum, Robert said you don’t need to have special skills to help out. 

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“You can pick up skills that are useful elsewhere and get good references with a smile,” Robert said.

“You can be trained up on the front desk, forwarding queries onto others.

“You don’t need to know all the history of the local area, but you learn a lot along the way. Every day is stimulating - meeting different people and thinking of new topics to explore in history.

“People often come in with an object from their family and don’t know anything about it and think we might like it. 

“So, working here, you get to find out what happened to the object and how we evaluate it.

“Sometimes rare objects distinct to region need to go on immediate display – or there might be old copies of the Northern Star which we already have or might be available electronically.”

Robert is particularly interested in people with IT skills who can help out making Audio Visual displays to help make the museum more contemporary.

“if you have a First Aid certificate or RSA for functions or a drivers licence for a bus or customer service expertise that’s always helpful too.”

If you are interested in volunteering, phone the museum on 6621 9993, email [email protected] or visit the website http://www.richhistory.org.au/lismore-museum/

If you’ve never been to Lismore Museum on Molesworth Street before, it’s opposite the Rous water building.

“We’ve been here since 1991 and we’re trying to Council to allow us to have a bigger sign so people can see us,” Robert laughed. 

The museum is housed in the old Lismore Municipal Building at 165 Molesworth Street, in premises provided by Lismore City Council.

The Museum is on the upper level, and access is available by stairs or lift. Parking is available on the street.

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