The significance assessment was funded by a grant from the National Library of Australia and preparation involved months of hard work by museum volunteers to identify and research items held in the collection. 

At the conclusion of her visit, Dr Russell, who advises UNESCO on heritage preservation, described the Museum’s shipping collection as “superb” and the amount of material related to families who originate in the local area and to local industries as “tremendous”.

“Given the fact that it’s all originated locally and that the Wright family connection is so strong in the museum, the documentation of the shipping collection in particular is fantastic, very, very good,” Dr Russell said.

Historical Society President, Alan Wright, a grandson of John Wright, who established Tuncurry Shipyard in 1878 and ran it until his death in 1910, said Tuncurry’s ship building industry and the Wrights’ involvement in it continued until after WWII.

“Among the museum’s significant items is an original letter written in November, 1941, by then NSW Minister for Public Works, later Premier, Joe Cahill, referring to an introduction to the wartime Minister for Munitions and the Navy given to Ernest Wright, John Wright’s son, who ran the shipyard after his father’s death,” Mr Wright said.

“The introduction bore fruit because in 1942, the Tuncurry Shipyard got an order, via the Commonwealth, from the US Army Small Ships Section for more than 50 wooden ships of various lengths between 45 and 85 feet. 

“War secrecy has clouded the issue but we believe at least 30 ships were built,” he said.

Dr Russell said the aim of the significance assessment was to look for things of national historical significance.

The grant which funded her visit was made on the basis of there being a likelihood of the museum having things of national significance, she said. 

“Certainly there are things which I have seen that have significance and there are other things that I’ll be researching when I get back to Canberra,” she said.

Some of the “most interesting pieces” included ship building tools, souvenirs related to the town, and Aboriginal artefacts and artworks.

Among the things she found “loveliest” was the old Tuncurry schoolhouse, which dates back to 1886 and which was moved to the museum in the 1980s.

“The recreated school room is one of the nicest I’ve seen, and I’ve seen quite a lot of them because it’s something people do,” she said.

Dr Russell has also done significance assessments for museums at Port Macquarie, Kempsey and Grafton, as well as Albury, Murrurundi, Holbrook, Jindera, Henty and Yarrawonga-Mulwala.

Tuncurry Museum’s working windmill is the only one she has seen.

“It’s the first one I’ve seen actually in operation and I just love it; there may be others, but I don’t know of them,” she said.