Greetings from Orange: New museum display shares history of Orange region tourism

Orange Council

For more than a century, Orange has offered travellers and holidaymakers a refreshing alternative to a coastal escape.

A new foyer exhibit has opened at Orange Regional Museum, exploring the colourful history of our local tourist travel, accommodation, hospitality and leisure offerings, as well as the development of regional promotion.

Greetings from Orange: Tourism 1870s-1970s shows how the extension of the Great Western Railway trainline from Sydney in 1877 helped Orange and the Central West grow into a statewide tourist destination.

SOMETHING FOR EVERYBODY: Greetings from Orange at Orange Regional Museum.

Orange City Council’s Services Policy Committee Chair, Cr Mel McDonell encouraged members of the community to visit the exhibition.

“Greetings from Orange is the perfect opportunity for members of our community to learn more about the history of this wonderful city and how it transformed from a rural outpost into the major regional tourist destination it is today,” Councillor McDonell said.

The exhibition guides visitors through how transportation to the region has changed since 1877 and how Orange transformed into a welcoming destination for travellers and holidaymakers. It explains the tourist appeal of the region and shows how Orange has been promoted to tourists over the years.

The exhibit is filled with photographs of the city and its people such as a NSW Tourist Bureau window display featuring Orange in 1960, railway hostess Miss Nancy Green in 1963, Orange Railway Station being repainted in 1957, The Hotel Canobolas dining room during the 1960s and Belair Motel in 1957.

Also on display are some of the Museum’s own collection of postcards, train tickets, souvenir booklets, photographs, and more from the 20th century that tell their own stories about Orange.

The display can be found at the entrance to the Orange Regional Museum in the Orange Visitor Information Centre.

Greetings from Orange will run until October 2024.

ORANGE THE BEAUTIFUL: Greetings from Orange at Orange Regional Museum

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