Community Museums Worldwide Series: Tweed Regional Museum, Murwillumbah
Author: Matilda Jones grew up on Bundjalung Country, later relocating to Gadigal Country in order to undertake a double degree in Law and Archaeology at Macquarie University.
Since 2022, the IFPH Explorers has partnered with Macquarie University to offer an internship program for students interested in public history. During the internship, students engage in a variety of activities, including writing blog posts for Bridging, reviewing IFPH Explorers events, or developing their own public history-related topics. The program aims to offer students an alternative to traditional academic writing by encouraging more accessible, engaging, and public-facing narratives.
Many interns go through several drafts before discovering how to effectively communicate with broader audiences. The IFPH Explorers particularly values student-led initiatives—when interns choose to write about topics they are personally passionate about, the results are often outstanding. This freedom to connect personal interests with public history fosters creativity, critical thinking, and deeper engagement with the field. - Jimena Perry
Acknowledgement of Country
I’d like to first acknowledge the Ngandowal and Minyungbal speaking people of Bundjalung Country, in particular the Goodjinburra, Tul-gi-gin and Moorung – Moobah clans, as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land upon which this blog post was written, and the site of the Tweed Regional Museum. I pay my respects to their Elders past, present and emerging and extend that respect to all First Nations peoples and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded. Always was, Always will be, Aboriginal Land.
The Tweed Regional Museum
Address: 2 Queensland Road, Murwillumbah, New South Wales, Australia (Bundjalung Country)
Visiting hours: 10 am – 4 pm (AEDT), on Tuesday through to Saturday
Cost of admission: free general entry
Website
The Tweed Regional Museum situated upon Bundjalung Country in far north-eastern New South Wales, was established in 2004 through the amalgamation of the local Historical Societies of Tweed Heads, Murwillumbah, Uki and South Arm in direct partnership with the Tweed Shire Council. The resulting Collection houses an excess of 15,000 objects and 50,000 images through which the Tweed Regional Museum seeks to collect, preserve and share the stories of the history and culture of the Tweed Valley. Collection areas include First Nations Cultural Heritage, Natural Heritage, and histories of the Tweed Valley.
Whilst the Tweed Regional Museum is relatively small, it is home to several permanent exhibitions exploring the geological and cultural history of the area and also undertakes “a vibrant program of changing exhibitions” to showcase contemporary stories about significant people, places, and events. As part of its goal to offer an accessible and diverse programming, the Tweed Regional Museum also delivers various activities both on and off site, to a diverse range of demographics including Up Late events, school holiday programs, hands‑on workshops, and Museum on Wheels activations.
The Permanent Collections
Land | Life | Culture
The Tweed Regional Museum’s Land | Life | Culture is an interactive exhibition that explores “the cultural, biological and geological stories that shape life in the Tweed.” Through various immersive displays, the exhibition explores the intersection of land, people and place, showcasing vivid graphics of the region’s iconic landscapes including the local mountain Wollumbin, natural specimens of endemic flora and fauna such as the Coolamon Tree & Mitchell’s Rainforest Snail, a dedicated interactive area for children, and cultural stories shared by members of the Bundjalung community including the six seasons cultural calendar. Land | Life | Culture also seeks to acknowledge the devastating injustices perpetrated against First Nations persons as a direct result of invasion and colonialism, of which the effects are still felt today.
Bundjalung Seasons Calendar developed by the Tweed Byron Local Aboriginal Land Council in collaboration with Tweed Regional Museum.
Tweed Tales: Tall and True
The Tweed Tales: Tall and True exhibition encapsulates significant and “quirky” stories from the Tweed’s history which are presented alongside a ‘collage’ of historical artefacts, newspaper clippings and photographs of Murwillumbah and other townships within the Tweed Valley. Such tales include that of:
- Red Sunday: at approximately 8:30 pm on 15 September 1907, the “vast majority of the business centre of the town” of Murwillumbah, including sixty-six shops was totally destroyed by a great fire later found to have started at Dainer’s Bakery.
- The Bank Job: on 23 November 1978 Murwillumbah became the crime scene of Australia’s largest bank robbery in which nearly $1.7 million dollars in cash was stolen from the vault of the Bank of New South Wales. To this day, the culprits have never been caught and so the case remains unsolved.
- Murwillumbah Swamp Beer: 10 April 2001 a semi-trailer carrying over 40,000 bottles of beer was travelling through Murwillumbah when it hit a medium strip, causing it to run off the road and into the Tweed River. The accident caused all 40,000 beer bottles to tip into the river but due to a public holiday, salvage efforts had to be delayed. Not one to pass up an opportunity, the Murwillumbah locals fashioned their own snorkelling equipment and successfully retrieved all the bottles which later became known as ‘Murbah Swamp Beer’. The event has became an urban legend, largely fuelled by the success of Gary Doust’s short documentary which is freely available on YouTube.
Thundereggs: Tweed’s Hidden Gems
The Tweed Regional Museum features a display of some of the distinctive thundereggs found throughout the Tweed Valley as a physical representation of the volcanic activity during the Miocene epoch between 20 – 24 million years ago. Thundereggs appear to be “unassuming spherical rocks from the outside, but once cut and polished, they show a beautiful and wild array of colours and crystals.”
Thunderegg interiors develop distinctive appearances, depending on the different naturally occurring minerals of the area in which it formed. For example, the thundereggs collected from Chillingham’s Couchy Creek contain characteristic patterns that can be distinguished from those found at Uki’s Mount Jerusalem, which are again different from those found at Perch Creek & Mount Nardi in the Doon Doon area. As such, the selected thundereggs on display are unique to the Tweed Valley and not found anywhere else in the world.
Thus the thunderegg display acts as a symbol of the Tweed Region’s rich geological heritage, particularly in light of its position within the remains of a giant shield volcano which forms the basis for the areas thriving agricultural industry both historically and today.
Adrian Smith Mineral Collection
Collection of over 3,000 gem and mineral specimens acquired by Adrian Smith from his travels throughout Australia and the world, which was later donated to the Tweed Shire Council so that community members could share in Adrian’s passion. Some 500 minerals and 300 gemstone specimens are permanently on display at the Tweed Regional Museum, representing some of the finest specimens from the Adrian Smith Mineral Collection and providing important context for the Tweed Region’s natural history.
As such, the mineral collection promotes significant educational value and thus serves as a reminder of the Tweed Regional community’s longstanding tradition of collaboration and knowledge sharing.
The Current Temporary Collections
The Wiiyaan
Exhibition Dates: 9 January – 18 July 2026
The Wiiyaan are an unbroken line of origin, the Ancestors of the Bundjalung Nation, the local First Nations people. Currently the Tweed Regional Museum’s feature exhibition, the Wiiyaan, is a creation story told through contemporary cultural practices. The Wiiyaan follows Three Brothers who came across the sea in a canoe to settle in the region. Upon arriving with their families, the Three Brothers then separated heading north, west, and south, which ultimately led to their descendants forming distinct tribes and their languages evolving into different dialects. The Three Brothers story is a foundational part of Bundjalung history, culture, and Country and functions to explain the origins of the Bundjalung Nation’s three different tribes and their dialects:
- Southern Bundjalung Dialect: Mamoon, Birrung, and Yar-Birrain
- Northern Bundjalung Dialect: Yarbiri, Marming, and Birin
The exhibition was established upon the work of Gudjingburra Bundjalung men Kyle and Bijang Slabb, who later gave their physical artefacts, digital animations, and material illustrations to Bundjalung Elders and Knowledge holders, to ensure the perpetuation of the traditional stories of the Wiiyaan and other Lore.
Old School
Exhibition Dates: 9 January – 21 November 2026
The Tweed Regional Museum’s Old School exhibition is primarily aimed at facilitating school children to develop an understanding of how life for children in the Tweed Valley has evolved over time. Such an objective is achieved through the presentation of select historical artefacts such as household items and classroom materials, displayed alongside comparable contemporary objects through which the viewer is directed to draw comparisons between the disparate points in time.
The Online Collections
The Tweed Regional Museum also exhibits various digital collections to garner further engagement and support to foster an interconnected local and global community. The following online exhibitions explore the diverse perspectives of historically marginalised communities and their place within the Tweed Valley throughout time.
Small Town Queer
Untold Stories: Living with Ability
Online Exhibition: https://museum.tweed.nsw.gov.au/explore/people-places/untold-stories
Untold Stories was curated with the express aim of capturing the extra-ordinary stories of ‘ordinary’ persons within the Tweed Valley, whose rich life experiences include living with disability. The showcase originally began as a physical exhibition in 2017 at the Tweed Regional Museum, and following its success, the participants generously allowed for their stories to be recorded and shared though audio, visual, and textual mediums now available online. Such an exhibition is a beautiful demonstration of the participants’ “wonderful expression of lives lived ‘with ability’ and to the fullest.”
Thus, the Tweed Regional Museum situated upon Bundjalung country, is a beautiful exploration of First Nations, Natural, and cultural histories of a fascinating, ever-quirky small regional community. Its collection does not shy away from the devastating truths of colonisation and seeks to present a diverse range of perspectives from various demographics to facilitate understanding, encourage meaningful dialogue, and foster a greater sense of community for all.
| Author: Matilda Jones is in her final year of a joint Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Archaeology degree at Macquarie University. Upon graduation, Matilda will undergo further legal studies to be admitted into practice in the hopes of eventually undertaking a role that will allow her to help facilitate the repatriation and restitution of cultural and historical artefacts to their rightful traditional owners. |
OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Bridging Editor (August 11, 2026). Community Museums Worldwide Series: Tweed Regional Museum, Murwillumbah. IFPH-FIHP. Retrieved September 12, 2026 from https://doi.org/10.58079/16nsd
