Lara From Settlement To Today
Come see the swaggie in his little hut and see Lara from earliest times to discover life as it was. Our displays are located in an old, restored limestone building formerly the Lara Bank Hotel which sits proudly on the corner of Forest Road and Canterbury Road West in Lara.
This museum is a glimpse into the life of a little town, now called Lara, on the road between Melbourne and Geelong. We are very proud that most of the items on display originally belonged to residents of the town.
On display in the main building are a school area, working player piano, ladies’ room with a wedding dress, and hand-sewn dressing gown made during the war. There are also a bedroom and dining room.
In the outer buildings are a bakery complete with oven, a laundry, lots of old tools, and in the big shed a restored car, photographic display and a shearing stand complete with a shearer and a sheep. We also have an old bicycle complete with ice box for delivering groceries around town.
We are in the process of making a timeline and the first section from earliest times is now on display- prehistoric fossils were found in the area and are now stored in a Queensland Museum.
Most of the items on display have been kindly donated by the local community which goes back over 150 years.