West Coast Heritage Centre

Cradle Country & The West


Housed in the 1894 School of Mines & Metallurgy, this museum is the pride of the local community and the town's major tourism drawcard. There's plenty to see, including a huge mineral display, photographs and documents tracing the history of the west coast, an underground-mine simulation and steam locomotives and carriages from the early west-coast railways. The centre also incorporates the Gaiety Theatre, a blacksmith shop and wheelwright workshop and the town's historic Freemasons lodge and police station/courthouse.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Cradle Country & The West attractions

1. Gaiety Theatre

0.01 MILES

When the Gaiety opened in February 1898, a troupe of 60 performers was brought to town from Melbourne and played to 1000 spectators every night for a week…

2. Spray Tunnel

1.29 MILES

This 100m-long glowworm-filled railway tunnel was constructed as part of silver-mining operations in 1904. You can now take a short walk through it along…

3. Eric Thomas Galley Museum

17.65 MILES

This museum started life as the Imperial Hotel in 1897 and now houses an extensive and idiosyncratically captioned photographic collection documenting the…

4. Paragon Theatre

17.68 MILES

This 1930s behemoth is the town's major landmark and in its heyday it was the epicentre of a thriving social scene. Lovingly restored to a semblance of…

5. LARQ Studio

17.72 MILES

Well-known printmaker and painter Raymond Arnold and his artist partner Helena Demczuk are two of a small community of visual artists living and working…

6. Spion Kop Lookout

17.72 MILES

The panoramic views of town from this lookout, which was named by soldiers after a battle in the Boer War, are excellent. Try to arrive at sunset, when…

7. Q Bank Gallery

17.77 MILES

Run by a group of friends who fell in love with the town and its handsome but faded bank building, this gallery is home to the Queenstown Artists in…

8. Pioneer Cemetery

17.79 MILES

Queenstown's story is told in this intriguing cemetery with more than 500 graves and some fascinating inscriptions on the crumbling headstones.