Open Days at Miss Porter’s House

Browse a special display of Newcastle life in the early twentieth century as lived by the Porter family of King Street, Newcastle. Re-live bygone days with items of Miss Porter’s House documentary history, a UNESCO Memory of the World listed collection. View treasured family snaps, prints, commercial photographs and post cards. Spot the Gas Works Office, all that remains in 2025 of the nineteenth century Steel Street Gas Works and see Ella and Hazel Porter at Cooks Hill School. Young visitors can have extra fun when the Easter Bunny makes a surprise appearance - find the golden egg to WIN a basket of tiny Easter goodies.

Treat mum to a slice of history and celebrate three generations of remarkable women. Enjoy special displays of memorabilia which reveal early European settlers, businesspeople, employees and active community members, as well as wives and mothers. Using QR coded signage visitors can hear migration stories, how businesses were built and flourished and how education helped the Porter sisters support their widowed mother and survive a disastrous earthquake. Celebrate the Porter women on Mother’s Day as you enjoy a tour of the house, listen to amazing stories and browse the homemade craft and plant stall.

View a century of stylish and changing fashions shown in photos and displays of historic homemade clothing and charming accessories. Described by contemporaries as ''well dressed'', the Porter women were prolific producers of clothing and household textiles, from underwear to business suits, party gowns to everyday dresses and accessories.
See stunning Edwardian studio photographs of Florence Porter, tightly corseted and clad from wrist to ankle in high-necked clothing and extravagantly large hats. Browse family snaps from the 1930s that capture Hazel and her mother in homemade fashion practical for work and everyday wear and view dresses, jackets, a suit and even a hat made by the Porter women from Crimplene - the wash-and-wear miracle fabric of the 1960s.

The Miss Porter’s House Documentary Heritage Collection 1910-1997 is inscribed on the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register, joining priceless items like the First Fleet Journals. Marvel at some of these nationally recognised documents from the collection, noted for their historical significance and comprehensive, sometimes quirky coverage of the domestic life of a household of ordinary women living in a regional town throughout most of the twentieth century. Also on display are a collection of rarely seen unique and beautiful family objects that are not to be missed.

From colonial beginnings as farmers on Ash Island and in the Singleton area, to their key role in the commercial life of Newcastle’s West End, the Porters made an important contribution to city life for well over one hundred years. Working women, carriers, grocers, businesspeople, and active citizens were all part of this notable Newcastle West family. Their stories are told in a special display of stunning photographs, memorabilia, documents and immersive audio stories.