RAAF Wagga Heritage Centre ''(Originally known as the Wagga Wagga RAAF Museum but was officially, RAAF Museum – Wagga Annex)'' is a

heritage centre A heritage centre, center, or museum is a public facility – typically a museum, monument, visitor centre, or park – that is primarily dedicated to the presentation of historical and cultural information about a place and its people, and often ...

located at the Wagga Wagga RAAF Base at Forest Hill located approximately east of

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 56,000 as of June 2018, Wagga Wagga is the state's la ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

on the

Sturt Highway Sturt Highway is an Australian national highway in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. It is an important road link for the transport of passengers and freight between Sydney and Adelaide and the regions situated adjacent to the r ...

. The heritage centre has indoor and outdoor displays of aircraft, memorabilia and photographs relating to the RAAF in the Riverina.

History

Wagga Wagga RAAF Museum was officially opened in June 1995 from items from the RAAF Base Wagga and items which was donated by the community. The museum was closed in 2001 for refurbishment with the memorabilia temporarily relocated to the Point Cook RAAF museum but plans to reopen the museum were quietly scrapped after the RAAF adopted a new policy in 2003, which stated that the RAAF would only fund

RAAF museum RAAF Museum is the official museum of the Royal Australian Air Force, the second oldest air force in the world, located at RAAF Williams Point Cook, Victoria, Australia which is the oldest continuously operating Military Air Base in the world. T ...

Point Cook Point Cook is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Wyndham local government area. Point Cook recorded a population of 66,781 at the 2021 census. Point Cook ...

. AirCare and Wagga Wagga based newspaper The Daily Advertiser ran a campaign during late September and early October 2008 in an attempt to reverse the

Australian Defence Force The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of the Commonwealth of Australia and its national interests. It consists of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Forc ...

's decision. On 13 December 2008, it was announced that the museum will be reopening in 2009. The Air Force would spend 75,000 completing the refurbishment of the museum building, due to be complete in 2009 sometime. In May 2009, a public consultation meeting was held to discuss plans for the centre, including the A$130,000 set aside by the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

for outfitting the building for a future heritage display. On 12 March 2010, it was reported that the heritage centre was expected to reopen in Spring 2010, but the official opening date was to be announced at a later date. On 29 July 2010, Air Marshal

Mark Binskin Air Chief Marshal Mark Donald Binskin, (born 20 March 1960) is a former senior officer in the Royal Australian Air Force. He served as Chief of Air Force (2008–11), Vice Chief of the Defence Force (2011–14), and Chief of the Defence Force ...

announced at the RAAF Base Wagga 70th anniversary that the heritage centre will open on 15 October 2010. The heritage centre was officially opened on the 12 October 2010 and will open three days a week.

References

External links

RAAF Heritage Centres
- includes RAAF Wagga Heritage Centre {{Authority control History of Wagga Wagga Aerospace museums in Australia Museums in New South Wales Air force museums Military and war museums in Australia Royal Australian Air Force 1995 establishments in Australia Museums established in 1995 History of the Royal Australian Air Force

History

See also

References

External links