The Hinkler Hall of Aviation and Fairymead House proved their popularity once again with a total of around 20,000 people through the doors in 2023.
Visitors to these Bundaberg Regional Council tourist facilities included residents, visitors from out of town, school and tour groups.
A particular highlight for the Hinkler Hall of Aviation was the upgrade of all three flight simulators in time to mark Bert Hinkler’s 131st birthday on 8 December.
The interactive technology underwent a thorough redesign to ensure for easy operation, upgraded control hardware, faster loading times and updated graphics and location models for a better visual experience for users.
The inaugural Bert Out of the Archives Exhibition was also a popular attraction, giving the public access to some never-before-seen images, personal letters and objects from the collection in the archives.
The temporary exhibition, which ran from 28 April to 23 July, was also open to visitors on its own accord and had 246 local and 742 outside visitors pass through.
Due to its success, a second series will be curated this year.
Another temporary exhibition was Out There Nowhere, which combined Richard Tabaka’s passions, of photography and flying, into a display of images showcasing a unique and mysterious view of the Australian outback landscape.
This exhibition ran from 25 February to 20 April 2023 and had 257 local visitors and 470 outside visitors attend.
Another highlight was the significance assessment of the Hinkler Hall of Aviation Memorabilia Trust, with the collection completed in March thanks to a Community Heritage Grant from the National Library of Australia.
A further grant will be used for a Preservation Needs Assessment this year after some significant items in the collection were identified as benefiting from specialist conservation advice.
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