Minister opens new Albany museum

15/4/00
The former Albany whaling station has a new photographic gallery documenting the history on the industry in Western Australia.
Opened today by Heritage Minister Graham Kierath, it is hoped the new gallery will help maintain the Whaleworld Museum as one of the Southern Coast's premiere tourist attractions.
Named in memory of a long time Whaleworld supporter, the Colin Green Heritage Gallery was initiated by Jaycees Foundation Australia with grants from the Heritage Council and the International Learning Foundation, which markets overseas the Education Department's distant learning resources.
Mr Kierath said it was encouraging that the Whaleworld Museum was continuing to push ahead with maximising the use of the former whaling station as a tourist attraction.
Since becoming a museum, Whaleworld had won numerous tourism awards and had more than 1.3 million visitors.
"When whaling finished in this State, the Cheynes Beach station could easily have become a slowly deteriorating industrial wasteland," the Minister said.
"The work that has gone into turning it into a whole new industry has to be applauded and the new Colin Green gallery is the next part of that."
The Whaleworld Museum was placed on the State's Heritage Register in 1998. The new gallery is named after the late
Colin Green who first decided to gift the former whaling station to Jaycees Foundation Australia in 1980.
The Colin Green Heritage Gallery will feature photographs of whaling in WA by former Albany Advertiser photographer
Ed Smidt.

Media contact: Zac Donovan (08) 9213 6400