Emmaville Mining Museum

The historic village of Emmaville in the Glen Innes Highlands is home to the Emmaville Mining Museum, the dream of Mr and Mrs Jack Curnow who ran the Emmaville bakery.

The bakery closed in 1969, they used the shop to display their vast collection of minerals and photographs. Their collection was bequeathed to the community in the hope that the town could start a museum.

The local council purchased the old Foley’s Store in Emmaville and volunteers began remodelling the building to house the Curnow collection.

Today, the Museum that houses the renowned Curnow mineral collection is also home to the Jillet, Gilbey, Ellis, Schumacher, Trethewey, Hermann and Maskey collections. In all, there are over 4,000 mineral and gem specimens.

As the collection grew, the Museum expanded. Out back is Foley’s General Store Museum, a replica blacksmith’s shop, an old wood-fired bakery, and a machinery shed filled with old mining equipment.

There’s the interior of a hessian-lined miner’s hut, a collection of over 400 photographs of the old mines, miners, and the Emmaville community, and a beautiful 1,500 bottle collection.

Created recently are two large drawings that show the life of Chinese miners in Vegetable Creek in the 1870s. (Now Emmaville) They depict the gardens established by the Chinese and the cultural life around the Joss Houses that were once a feature of the village.