Construction work update - 17/10/25

The Arts Theatre, Long Room (foyer), Town Hall , Box Office and Gallery are all operating as normal. Entry continues via west-side entrance until further notice.

Cultural Precinct project

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Collections

Burnie proudly preserves the stories of the North-West through one of Tasmania’s most significant regional collections. The Burnie Regional Museum holds the state’s third-largest collection, with more than 400,000 photographs and negatives capturing generations of local life. Burnie also maintains a nationally recognised permanent art collection, with a special focus on works on paper that reflects the region’s papermaking heritage.

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We have put together a series of education resource for an understanding of the history of north-west Tasmania.

Advocate photographic collection

The Advocate photographic collection consists of glass plate, acetate cellulose negatives, and prints taken for the Advocate newspaper from the 1950s to the1990s.

APPM Collection

Associated Pulp and Paper Mills Ltd. was Burnie’s first major secondary industry, established in 1938.

The David Chalk Collection

This remarkable specialist collection was compiled by the late David Chalk.

Emu Bay Railway Collection

The Emu Bay & Mount Bischoff Railway (which later became the Emu Bay Railway) contributed significantly to the economic prosperity that Burnie enjoyed between 1880 and 1910.

The George Rouse Papers

George Rouse (1800-1873) was the Van Diemen’s Land Company’s storekeeper, a pioneer farmer and Burnie’s first justice of the peace and unpaid police magistrate.

Norton-Smith Papers

James W Norton-Smith (1846-1911) was the Van Diemen’s Land Company’s manager from 1869 – 1903.

Gifted Works

From time to time artists, individuals and organizations make gifts of artworks to the Burnie Regional Art Gallery. Famous Green politician, Senator Bob Brown, for example, donated the 1993 portrait of him by Archibald Prize wining artist Geoff Dyer to the Gallery.

Textile collection

The Burnie Regional Museum has an extensive textile collection including embroideries from school children to fashion items from various periods specifically the late 1960s-early 1970s.

The Winter Photographic Collection

The Burnie Regional Museum’s Winter Collection comprises more than 300,000 photographic negatives. Three generations of Winter family photographers captured more than 90 years of our region’s history on camera.

Gallery Collections

The Burnie Regional Art Gallery (BRAG) opened to the public on August 12, 1978. By May 1980, an acquisition policy was adopted to acquire the finest examples available in the fields of drawing, printmaking, photography, watercolour and gouache painting.

These collections are not on display, however they are available for viewing for study and research purposes by appointment and are exhibited at the Museum from time to time.

The Burnie Regional Art Gallery (BRAG) opened to the public on August 12, 1978. By May 1980, an acquisition policy was adopted to acquire the finest examples available in the fields of drawing, printmaking, photography, watercolour and gouache painting. Today, and from that visionary policy, BRAG houses a nationally significant permanent art collection with a focus on paper in recognition of the region’s history of papermaking.

The Museum’s original collection was purchased from Peter Mercer (OAM, AMAA) by the Burnie City Council in 1970. Peter had been amassing his private collection since 1942, from the age of 7 years old. He was an avid collector of objects from across the North-West region and his collection forms the basis of the Federation Street exhibition, Australia’s first indoor historic streetscape.

Since the Museum became a public institution in 1971, the collection has grown considerably and now represents much more than what is on display in the Federation Street, which accounts for a mere 20% of the collection.