British Ordnance Collectors Network
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Petition to save the Lithgow Small Arms Factory Museum
- Thread starter reccetrooper
- Start date
There is information about the museum’s problems on the petition link that I shared. I think it is important for everyone interested in the history of firearms, and not just in Australia, to support the museum through this critical phase otherwise there is a real risk that the museum will be closed and the collection lost.
Two extracts from the petition page are shared below:
”Following a break-in in August 2024, urgent security upgrades, ordered by NSW Police, have been stalled for four months, to date, due to multinational red tape. This has incurred a cost of $5000 per week for night security guards. The museum remains closed, financially strained, and volunteers are unable to move forward.”
“The Problem:
Thales issued a draft contract in 2022, to sell the museum its integral heritage site for a nominal price. This has now been downgraded to an offer of a long-term lease, retaining the obstructive approval process for all works, and disturbingly, the right to evict the museum and repurpose or demolish the buildings. The current expert volunteers want to rebuild the museum and secure its future by transitioning to salaried staff. The autonomy of site ownership, as promised by Thales, is critical to this aim. The insecure tenure provided by a lease makes future growth, succession, and preservation plans impossible.
Without immediate action, Australia will lose a highly significant cultural asset and an irreplaceable part of its industrial heritage.”