In a quiet residential street in Bathurst is one of the country’s most intimate museums — the former home of Prime Minister Ben Chifley and his wife, Elizabeth.
Whether your interest runs to Australian politics or you’d like to step back in time, this unique museum and Education Centre provides a glimpse into how the Chifleys lived, and offers an experience of everyday life in the 1940’s. Its original collection of household furnishings, kitchenware and personal effects date back to when the Chifleys first occupied the house in 1914.
This is a house that saw the hardships of the Great Depression and wartime austerity. From homemade tea cosies to Mrs Chifley’s soap saver in the kitchen, 10 Busby Street has little in common with The Lodge or Kirribilli House, and is all the more interesting for it.
Learn about Ben and Elizabeth, their family stories and their lives together, and immerse yourself in life in the 1940s.
Bathurst Council has recently been successful in securing a grant from the Copland Foundation to upgrade the gardens of Chifley Home and Education Centre.
The Chifley Home Garden project aims to return the gardens of the museum to a state that reflects the time Ben and Elizabeth Chifley resided there.
Ben and Elizabeth loved their garden, which included showy dahlias, a vegetable patch, colourful annuals and maintained hedges. Ben was known to take cuttings from The Lodge in Canberra when he was Prime Minister to add to their garden in Bathurst.
This project will highlight the sustainability of the era, by using plants that can be propagated by cuttings or division (as was often how gardens were filled). Drought-hardy and low maintenance plants, with interpretation on their use for sustainability and in heritage gardens, will be showcased.
These were momentous times. In early July 1945 John Curtin, Australia’s wartime Prime Minister, died in office. Curtin was succeeded by Bathurst-born Ben Chifley, who led the nation through the last month of the war, and into the peace. Chifley remained Prime Minister until 1949.
Japan surrendered after the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in early August 1945. While the world celebrated the end of hostilities, it was also apparent that the nuclear age, and the cold war, had begun.
The 80th anniversary of these events is being commemorated at Chifley Home and Education Centre. The museum is running film clips and newsreels from the time, included in museum entry.
Annie Milne McKenzie was the second daughter born to George and Isabella McKenzie of Milltown, now known as South Bathurst. She was the younger sister to Elizabeth Gibson McKenzie, who went on to marry Ben Chifley.
Little is known about Annie, who tragically died at the age of only 24. Using oral histories, official documents and newspaper reports of the time, a picture of an active and popular young lady comes to life. Annie, who so far has been just a footnote in the Chifley Home story, comes out of the shadows of her more famous elder sister.
The exhibition is included in museum entry.
Your Guide will take you into the Home – usually through the back door, as that’s the way everyone entered when they visited Ben or Lizzie.
The museum has been preserved as much as possible as it was when the Chifleys were in residence – it houses the kitchen furniture Lizzie sat at with her friends to play cards, and Ben’s bookcase in the spare room, filled with pipe ash-studded detective novels. Paintings by family members sit proudly alongside gifts for a Prime Minister.
The Education Centre is adjacent to Chifley Home, and is filled with information about Ben and Elizabeth Chifley, their families and their history.
Included is a 1940s replica sitting room, where visitors can sit down and listen to the “wireless” or play the working pianola and have a singalong!
A visit to the Chifley Home can be a meaningful cross generational family experience – and offer a valuable message about sustainability.
Often grandparents will reminisce about their life, or parents remember stories they were told by their own parents. This is the chance to see life from another era – a time when there was no television, no internet and not even hot water in the kitchen.
From early years to higher education, we offer opportunities for programs of exploration and discussion to enhance students’ engagement with our collections. Our programs for Stages ES1-Stage 3 are directly linked to the NSW History Syllabus.
Museums Bathurst is a suite of public museums managed by Bathurst Regional Council, located on Wiradjuri Country. Museums Bathurst acknowledges the Wiradjuri People as the Traditional Custodians of the land in the Bathurst Region. We pay respect to Elders, past, present, and emerging and acknowledge all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who live, work and play in the Bathurst region.
Museums Bathurst Bronze Sponsor
