Our places | Mighty effort to save Eugowra's Museum and Bushranger Centre exhibits after November 2022 flood

These precious items were left soaked, buried in silt and in upturned or smashed display cabinets in the wake of the November 14 flood that devastated the small community.

Since that day more than 500 hours of work - from local and visiting volunteers as well as consultants and Orange Regional Museum staff - has gone into the painstaking task of salvaging precious pieces of local history.

Now they're on the road to rebuilding, with the goal of reopening in 2024.

Museum president Ray Agustin said they had sandbagged the back of the Pye Street property in preparation for flooding - but they could not have prepared for the consecutive walls of water that struck.

But the Museum was designed to preserve Eugowra's history and they have done just that - with wonderful support and more to come.

Orange Regional Museum manager Mary-Elizabeth Andrews said last December that a swift response was crucial as vulnerable items lay buried in silt, at risk of mould.

"When we got there we had a list of the high priority and most vulnerable items, and we set about salvaging those items," she said.

There are a lot of items of historical significance in the museum, but photographs, paper and textiles were particularly vulnerable.

The work to recover them was a team effort with local volunteers, conservators from Create NSW with experience in flood recovery, Orange City Council and Orange Regional Museum as well as volunteers from the region including Millthorpe and Canowindra.

"It was a significant response, it's a huge effort," Ms Andrews said.

"We managed to salvage 25 tubs of material that was brought back to the museum in Orange and the conservators from Sydney and my team spent the next day and a half washing and treating that material to get it to the point where it's stable enough to be left."

Treasure did emerge from the mud and silt: there's hope in what looked like a pretty bleak situation for the collection.

"Some of those textiles dating back to the late 19th and early 20th century from grandparents of some of the people who are volunteers at that museum, who themselves have lost everything in that flood, it's just beautiful to see that come back," Ms Andrews said.

Just one example was some Irish lace that was in a cabinet completely smashed by the force of the water, it has come up "absolutely beautifully".

Textiles, photographs, documents, ledgers, leather, fine timber and precious metals are among the items that have been dried, cleaned, treated and re-housed, ready to return to Eugowra. Some treasures remain in freezer storage for preservation.

Mr Agustin says the volunteer committee is now - slowly but surely - planning their way toward reopening on January 1 next year.

The museum has long been a drawcard for visitors from all over, a treasure trove of local history of regional and national significance.

Volunteers have always been and will be key to its future.

"It was extremely busy," Mr Agustin said.

"We had a hard time (finding enough volunteers) to keep it open for all the visitors."

A project manager has been appointed to oversee the rebuilding toward reopening, which he plans for January 1, 2024.

Amazingly, the Pye Street building has come through without structural damage but it will need new skirting boards, paint and of course housing for the displays to replace what was lost.

"We saved all the equipment, we have saved the exhibits, now we need to work through the issues," Mr Agustin said.

"It's a blank canvas and we are taking our time to get it right."

The story of November 14, 2022, and all that has happened since, will also become part of the local history that this Museum carefully preserves for future generations.

The Recovery Assistance Point will return to Eugowra on Wednesday, March 8, open at the Bowling Club from midday to 6pm.

Flood-affected locals can get help with: financial assistance; grants assistance; accommodation support; and financial assistance for primary producers.

You can donate to the Eugowra community GIVIT fund to help residents replace items they need to move back home by going online to https://fundraise.givit.org.au/fundraisers/EPPA/eugowra-flood-appeal

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