The Ganmain Historical Society will host its annual Open Day on Saturday 22 March at the Ganmain Museum in Waterview Street from 10am to 4pm.

Prepare to ‘Step Back in Time’ and be transported and immersed in history that includes static displays and working demonstrations of machinery, tractors, home appliances and farming equipment.

The society itself dates back to a local clearing sale north of Ganmain in 1973 when an old five foot McKay harvester was offered for sale. A number of Ganmain men, mostly farmers, thought it would be a pity to see it leave the district so they bid and bought it.

A fortnight later the inaugural meeting was held and Gordon Jones, one of the group of Allan Brill, Alf Winrow, Laurie Kelly, Bardy Quinn, Colin Logan, Les McPherson and Will Kember, was elected president.

A few months later the Waterview Street property was bought from Con Warran. Local pioneer families donated funds towards painting and electrical work and had a room named after them in which they could display family history and photos.

A huge amount of work and money was spent out the back too, clearing pepper trees and building sheds to house machinery. They continued to collect items of interest, mainly from around Ganmain and Matong district and now have more than 1400 articles and photographs on display.

It took 12 years of meetings and working bees before the museum was finally opened and the event was attended by 200 people on 23 March 1985. This has become an annual event on the second last Saturday in March.

Apart from the collection of historical items in the district one of the projects has been collecting the history of Ganmain and district to publish a book. Lorna Gilmore with the help of fellow members published ‘The Settlers and Settlement of Ganmain’ which was launched at the 1992 opening day.

In more recent years the group acquired the café building and yard behind it where they built another shed.

This article appeared in the Narrandera Argus, 13 March 2025.