Help us shape the future of the Kentian Society Museum by reading the draft Museum Collections Policy and sharing your thoughts with us. Email the Management Committee (society@kentians.org.au) to comment or express interest in the further development of Your Museum.

About The Museum

The Kentian Society Museum aims to contribute to the conservation of the history and heritage of Kent Street Senior High School within the Town of Victoria Park, Western Australia.

Archiving began in 1994 soon after the Society was established following the school’s highly successful 50th Anniversary celebrations in 1990. 

While to date the Collection has been known as “The Archives”, it has for many years effectively been operating as a community museum and research library. 

Significant Aspects of the Collection

The Museum has about 2 800 catalogued items, including hundreds of historical school objects and artefacts, including building plans, old student uniforms, shields, trophies, pennants and plaques, historical classroom equipment and textbooks, student work books and copies of over 400 historical photos.

Its research library has several hundred books and associated reference material (such as letters and documents) related to the school history including old school journals, newsletters and year books, student diaries, teachers’ programs, exam material, and more than 400 news articles (almost half of them with photos).

The Museum has managed to preserve some important written and physical resources in relation to the history of childhood in WA and other social history research topics.

In particular, its database of more than 30 000 student admission records from 1940-2020 (which has fascinating details such as parental occupation and home address, contributory and destination schools, student siblings, and other matters) is likely to become a major source of data for researchers in tertiary institutions. 

Historic building details

The Kent Street school when it opened in 1940 was only the third secondary school facility in the State, and the first south of the Swan River in metropolitan Perth, to be built independent of an existing primary school. 

The school still has many of its original group of buildings, which have a definite ‘Art Deco’ feel. The theme of the earlier buildings, with a red base and painted above, has been carried through into the later buildings, so, even though the styles are quite different, there is a cohesiveness to the whole complex and it is on the State Heritage Register.

Future of the Kentian Society Museum

Now that the Society has been officially recognised as a charity, and will hopefully soon be endorsed as a Deductable Gift Recipient (DGR), the Management Committee thinks it’s time to begin seriously thinking about how to further develop the Kentian Society Museum.

Small independent museums like ours often survive by creating strategies to boost interest and involvement from the community. This helps them attract more visitors, volunteers and donors, ensuring they can continue to operate and grow.

Though the full development of a public museum may take several more years, it’s crucial to begin preparations now to shape the museum’s vision and ensure the Management Committee receives the best advice and support moving forward. 

 A draft Museum Collections Policy is now available (click on its title to see the document). It’s meant to start an open discussion and allow for any suggested changes to be considered fully. This is an important step to make the museum a place everyone can enjoy.

 The draft policy suggests a much bigger operation than the current archive collection, aiming to gather more materials for larger exhibitions, education, archiving, and research. 

Some people may even be surprised by how large the museum collection might become in future, covering many historical and thematic areas. But of course not everything will be on display all the time. Many items will likely be kept in storage and shown only during certain permanent or temporary exhibits, as occurs in most museums.

People can also expect that a new Museum Advisory Committee (to provide advice, support and guidance) will be set up soon, and we would like to hear from members and anyone else in the community interested in supporting this new project.

Some Questions to Consider…

What are you curious about?

What are the important stories that need to be shared in Your Museum?

This is Your Museum – you’re a part of it. How would you like to be involved?