The Emmaville Mining Museum is a treasure trove of regional history nestled in the heart of Emmaville, NSW. The main focus is on minerals, with over 4,000 mineral and gem specimens. The minerals, crystals, gems, and the like, is the dominant display when you first walk in.
We visited the museum after spending time at the Historical Ottery Arsenic Mine 
, a mine that originally started a tin mine and later became an arsenic mine. It was part of a trip for a pub camp at Deepwater 
. The minerals on display are broad, and tin is included. I don’t recall seeing tin in its natural form before, mainly as finished products in other museum displays, such as tin cups and the like. Specimens are shown with tin around rocks and crystals.
Towards the back of the main building, there is a booth with blackout curtains. Inside is a switch so you can change the lighting between normal lights and UV black light. It shows a collection of different rocks that look somewhat dull, burst with colour when the UV light is turned on. A variety of green, yellow, orange, blue, and purple appear.
Progress further into the museum, whether it is upstairs, to the adjoining building, or out the back, the story of Emmaville is revealed beyond the mineral displays — although more minerals can be found. Emmaville was first known as Vegetable Creek during its tin rush heyday. There was a large Chinese population and they tended to grow vegetables next to the creek, so it became known as Vegetable Creek. As the town grew in size, it was thought it should have a proper name and was renamed to Emmaville.
Three buildings out the back were built for Foley’s General Store in 1914, and formally opened in the museum in 2000 by Harry Curnow, a former employee of Foley’s Store. The buildings contain a mix of different items from times past, with common items found in many museums such as an old cash register and tins of produce, supplies, and equipment. We found a display of Debbie Wells, an Australian athlete who first completed for Australia in the 1976 Montreal Olympics at 15 years of age. Known as the Emmaville Express, she is one of a few Australians who has completed at three Olympic Games, attending at the 1980 Moscow Olympics and 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
