DEVOTION

Janurary 18 - March 30 2014

An exhibition which celebrates the lives and achievements of Prime Minister Sir Joseph and his his wife Dame Mary Cook has opened at the Chifley Home and Education Centre.

It focuses on the lives of Sir Joseph and Dame Mary and their devotion to politics, the community and family.

Joseph was a Minister in the first Federal Government, became Prime Minister in 1913, was High Commissioner in London and knighted in 1918. As well as being beside him every step of his career, Dame Mary was heavily involved in the Red Cross and was made a Dame in the Order of the British Empire in 1925 for this work.

Of special note is the fact that he was the first Prime Minister from our region, being elected into Parliament from Lithgow NSW.

"It is very special to see in this exhibition the bond between Sir Joseph and Dame Mary and how they were able to achieve so much together."The couple moved to Lithgow in 1886 and Sir Joseph worked in the Vale of Clwydd Colliery and at the Lithgow Mercury as he studied and worked his way up through the unions and into politics.

The exhibition has been developed by Eskbank House and Museum and Lithgow City Council

It is scheduled to run from January 18 till March 30, 2014.

23 March - 24 June 2013

The McKenzie Story tells the story of Elizabeth Chifley and her family, and the qualities they had in common: devotion to family, civic-mindedness, generosity and faith. In an age of religious intolerance, George and Isabella McKenzie – staunch Presbyterians - welcomed their Irish Catholic son-in-law, gave the young couple a home (now known as Chifley Home) and helped Chifley gain wider acceptance through George's community connections. The exhibition, curated by Sue Jones, commemorates the 40th anniversary of the opening of Chifley Home as a house museum.

Image: Four McKenzie family members in the De Dion Bouton car in Bathurst

January 2013 - 18 March 2013

This photographic exhibition includes 54 photographs taken in World War Two by Australian soldiers as they first met the Greek people, withdrew from Greece to Crete and finally were evacuated from the island. In the 1941 campaign, Australian and New Zealand soldiers stood together with their Greek and Cretan allies in an effort to halt the German invasion. 
Prior to 2011 the photographs had never been seen in the public arena and were held in private family collections before being collected by Australian Army officers Colonel Graham Fleeton and Sergeant Matt Walsh.