Cobargo District Museum opened in 2017, attracts visitors, locals

The museum was opened in 2017 by Vicky Hoyer and some others who have since passed away.

"The concept of the museum was floated ten years ago," Ms Hoyer said.

"We then started to focus, did all the background work and tried to get more people involved."

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Today Ms Hoyer, Bev Holland and Steve Williams are the 'face' of the museum.

All three volunteer in several other community groups.

Behind the scenes are the treasurer and 'friends of the museum' although their numbers are falling as people pass away or can no longer be active.

The museum's location on the main street, next to the visitor information centre, draws in people passing through and tourists staying in Bermagui.

Locals also visit frequently.

"People come in for a chat or to see what is new.

"It is somewhere to tell stories and relay a little bit of information," Ms Hoyer said.

Every item received from locals and through donations is catalogued and "after the fires everything is precious", Ms Hoyer said.

In the early 1900s football was a way of congregating, making a set of football championship cups donated by Clive Watt a reminder of how people socialised back then.

A similar vintage dairy vat from a property still running as a dairy farm "is a really good representation of the dairy industry".

Ms Hoyer pointed out clippers for sheep shearing, a cup from the first Cobargo show in 1889, won by a female rider, Kate McDonald, and a cot from the CWA.

"A lot of locals, including Tony Allen, have been in that. It was used for Tresillian," she said.

Ms Holland said half of the players in a photo of the Cobargo Blues Rugby Club 1912-1915 went off to fight in WWI.

Ms Hoyer said they plan a three-stage research project, starting with significant buildings on Cobargo's main street, including some that have gone.

Next would be churches, older houses and things like the paddock where the police kept their horses during the gold mining days.

Thirdly, "looking at outlying villages and areas and getting a story about those", she said.

Because Cobargo RSL lost all its records in the bushfires, Ms Holland said they are looking at every name on the war memorial, "clarifying the names and getting the story behind those people if we can".

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