Museums
Capricorn Coast’s two museums are worth the time. If you have an interest in military history, train paraphernalia, maritime and a great many other objects you won’t be disappointed.
Emu Park Museum
The Emu Park Museum has a large eclectic array of items. Classic museum style, including excellent taxidermied animals, displayed over several buildings.
The Emu Park Museum is a volunteer organisation, who have been providing information and valuable assistance to the general public since 1984, offering research assistance for those seeking information about past residence and happenings in and around Emu Park.
The Museum has a vast collection of railway paraphernalia inc. old buildings, trolleys and models, including a working model railway.
Other collections of note include natural history, dolls, cameras, hand tools, bottles, shells, gramophones and old photographs including one of the ‘famous’ old Croc which hung on the outside wall of the Pine Beach Hotel.
Information is available about King O’Malley who recuperated at Emu Park after a serious life-threatening illness. King O’Malley went on to start the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
Be sure not to miss our recently opened Maritime Museum which contains a huge, exquisite collection of outstanding model ships ranging from the earliest vessels through icons such as Endeavour and Victory along with more modern naval vessels and commercial vessels.
RSL Military Museum
Yeppoon’s Return Serviceman’s League has amassed a large amount of interesting military paraphernalia.
The Yeppoon RSL Museum houses a collection of over 5000 artefacts including local stories, war diaries and logs that have, not just local significance but also international significance. One of the treasures was a log book kept by Ron Jarvis, who was a prisoner in the Second World War from 1942 to 1945. The log contains details of the daily struggles Mr Jarvis experienced, along with sketches, poems, names and details of his fellow prisoners.
Memorabilia relates mostly to twentieth-century Australian military history in general, especially as it has affected the Capricorn region and its people. The Museum received its first donation in 1947 when a local resident, Miss Barry, donated her uncle’s Crimean War medals and sword. The DFC of Squadron Leader Eric Jarman is on display in a dedicated display case, along with the log book of his Lancaster bomber’s last flight over Germany.
Located in the RSL Hall at the corner of Normanby and Hill Streets, the Yeppoon RSL Military Museum first opened to the public in 1978. The inaugural Curator was Bob Barton after whom The Bob Barton Memorial Museum was named.