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Carnamah Museum
The Carnamah Historical Society Museum was established in 1992. The museum is filled with artefacts, photos and documents from a cross-section of Carnamah’s past, while in the museum yard and sheds is an array of agricultural farm machinery, tools and implements.
The museum is located at 10 Macpherson Street, Carnamah - on the corner of Macpherson and Caron Streets. The machinery yard can be inspected at any time, and the museum building is open on Friday afternoons from 1:30 to 5:00, or by request. If you would like to look inside the museum outside its opening hours please telephone Bridie on 08 9951 1235, or Jill on 08 9951 1575 or 0458 576 758. Admission is free.
History of the Museum Building
The museum building and the land it stands on have strong ties to Carnamah’s past. The Midland Railway Company surveyed the block in 1913 as part of the Carnamah townsite east of its railway line. In 1919 the Company sold the block for £15 cash to local pioneer Donald Macpherson, who by that time had lived in Carnamah for over 45 years. Donald sold the vacant block to retired policeman “Charlie” Carl F. W. Kroschel who had tearooms and a residence built on the block in 1926. Charlie had previously been the policeman at Three Springs with Carnamah under his jurisdiction.
Charlie and his wife Maggie ran “The Don Tearooms” until 1936 when hard times forced them to move out and lease their tearooms to their main competitor – single entrepreneurs Amy R. G. Giles and E. Vera Stephens. Misses Giles & Stephens, as they traded and were locally known as, had operated the “Pyramid Tea Rooms” in Carnamah since 1930. They vacated their premises on the other side of Macpherson Street and on moving to 10 Macpherson Street took the Pyramid name with them. Giles & Stephens operated the tearooms and also took in boarders until leaving in 1938.
The tearooms were then taken over by Charlie Kroschel’s daughter and son-in-law “Maggie” Margaret A. and “Ned” Edmund K. Wells. They conducted the "Wells & Wells Pyramid Tearooms" for twenty years ending in 1958. The tearooms then changed hands numerous times before being partially demolished and converted to a branch of the Totalisator Agency Board (TAB) in 1986. Following the closure of the TAB in Carnamah, the premises were put up for sale, and in early 1992 were purchased by the Carnamah Historical Society.
The Carnamah Historical Society Museum was established in 1992. The museum is filled with artefacts, photos and documents from a cross-section of Carnamah’s past, while in the museum yard and sheds is an array of agricultural farm machinery, tools and implements.
The museum is located at 10 Macpherson Street, Carnamah - on the corner of Macpherson and Caron Streets. The machinery yard can be inspected at any time, and the museum building is open on Friday afternoons from 1:30 to 5:00, or by request. If you would like to look inside the museum outside its opening hours please telephone Bridie on 08 9951 1235, or Jill on 08 9951 1575 or 0458 576 758. Admission is free.
History of the Museum Building
The museum building and the land it stands on have strong ties to Carnamah’s past. The Midland Railway Company surveyed the block in 1913 as part of the Carnamah townsite east of its railway line. In 1919 the Company sold the block for £15 cash to local pioneer Donald Macpherson, who by that time had lived in Carnamah for over 45 years. Donald sold the vacant block to retired policeman “Charlie” Carl F. W. Kroschel who had tearooms and a residence built on the block in 1926. Charlie had previously been the policeman at Three Springs with Carnamah under his jurisdiction.
Charlie and his wife Maggie ran “The Don Tearooms” until 1936 when hard times forced them to move out and lease their tearooms to their main competitor – single entrepreneurs Amy R. G. Giles and E. Vera Stephens. Misses Giles & Stephens, as they traded and were locally known as, had operated the “Pyramid Tea Rooms” in Carnamah since 1930. They vacated their premises on the other side of Macpherson Street and on moving to 10 Macpherson Street took the Pyramid name with them. Giles & Stephens operated the tearooms and also took in boarders until leaving in 1938.
The tearooms were then taken over by Charlie Kroschel’s daughter and son-in-law “Maggie” Margaret A. and “Ned” Edmund K. Wells. They conducted the "Wells & Wells Pyramid Tearooms" for twenty years ending in 1958. The tearooms then changed hands numerous times before being partially demolished and converted to a branch of the Totalisator Agency Board (TAB) in 1986. Following the closure of the TAB in Carnamah, the premises were put up for sale, and in early 1992 were purchased by the Carnamah Historical Society.
