Ask an expert. Ask us. Ask a local.
Wingham Museum is a designated Visitor Information Point staffed by friendly locals who know all the secret spots to have you living like a local in no time. Here you’ll find more than just information… you’ll get ideas to make your stay even better than expected.
Our visitor information points are located at Manning Regional Art Gallery, Myall Community Art & Craft Centre, Wingham Museum and Yalawanyi Ganya.
If you’re an Australian history buff then the Barrington Coast should loom large in your list of must-visit destinations due to our stellar beginnings with the Australian Agricultural Company (AA Company) in 1826.
From the shores of Port Stephens to the banks of the Manning River and hinterland towns of Stroud, Gloucester and Wingham, the AA Company was omnipresent. So you’ll find no shortage of fascinating items and stories at museums across our region.
Wingham was settled in 1853 on the banks of the Manning River and this unique township offers visitors the opportunity to step back in time. Its rich heritage is evident in the many National Trust listed Federation buildings.
The centrepiece of history here is Wingham Museum, which is open seven days and showcases a vast collection of interesting memorabilia. Nearby you can shop at gorgeous boutique stores and enjoy fresh local produce at award-winning cafes.
If you’re looking for ideas for spending a whole day in Wingham, then check out these Wingham wanderer suggestions.
Ask the helpful staff at Wingham Museum for their recommendations, and about upcoming events that may interest you: Wingham Farmers Market, Wingham Music Festival or Bonnie Wingham Scottish Festival… just to name a few.
Suggested itineraries from Wingham
Looking for history:
If you’re already in the Wingham Museum, you’ve made a great start! The museum was opened in 1968 by Australia’s great aviator Nancy Bird Walton and the historic building was Wingham’s first general store. As the primary keeping place of local culture and heritage in the Manning Valley, Wingham Museum is the custodian of a large collection of artefacts representing all facets of life here, with over 10,000 items in 500 square metres of exhibition space: fashion, textiles and crafts, natural history, Aboriginal culture and history, domestic life, industries, agriculture and farming, the Manning River, transport and communication, serving in war and the war at home. The collection is lovingly curated by a team of dedicated volunteers, and includes the original lock-up that held famed bushranger Jimmy Governor among its many relics.
More history can be found a short distance downstream at Tinonee, the Manning River’s first port. In the years when the rivers were the roads, Tinonee was the heart of the Manning River where majestic sailing ships were an everyday sight as the new township buzzed with commerce and industry. Visit the Tinonee Museum, originally built as a broom factory, that also has the original police jail cell and police stables on its grounds. The museum is run by more volunteers, actively keeping our history and heritage alive for future generations.
Heading back into Taree you can take a self-guided walk though Taree's history with two easy walking itineraries. Combining both walks is 5.7 km and takes around 2.5 hours depending how much you dawdle. But take your time and you'll uncover 20 places of historic interest, so make sure you stop often to enjoy the vistas and streetscapes of this town built on the commercial strength of the mighty Manning River.
Looking for nature:
Down by the edge of the Manning River you’ll discover Wingham Brush, a nature reserve with a difference. Covering 10 hectares of subtropical floodplain rainforest, it is one of only a few remnants of this rare rainforest type in Australia. Giant Moreton Bay figs tower over a gently winding wheelchair-friendly boardwalk suitable for all ages, where you’ll discover a large colony of endangered grey-headed flying foxes. Take your time to absorb the sights, sounds and the filtered light through the dense canopy: keep your eyes out for land mullets and brush turkeys in the undergrowth and listen for the distinct calls of the green catbird and wompoo fruit-dove. This type of rainforest once stretched all the way up the Manning River, so take some time to imagine what this lush region once looked like.
A short scenic drive from Wingham takes you to Elands and the iconic Ellenborough Falls, a shining example of the awesome beauty of water in the Barrington Coast. At 200 metres, Ellenborough Falls is the tallest single drop waterfall in New South Wales and amongst the tallest in the southern hemisphere. At the car park you'll find toilets, picnic tables, interpretive signs plus the Ellenborough Falls Kiosk. The walks here - some easy, some not so easy – offer different ways to enjoy the best views of Ellenborough Falls. The longest hardest walk is to follow the path down 641 steps to the bottom of the falls. The view looking back up the waterfall is mesmerising, it puts our small human scale into perspective. You need to be reasonably fit, as the return journey up those steps is surprisingly difficult.
