About
The Buninyong Visitor Information Centre is located in the historic former Free Library, built in 1861. The building was restored in the 1980s and became a tourist information centre with a strong focus on the history of the area. The Centre is open daily from 11.00am to 2.00pm and is staffed entirely by volunteers. Tourist information includes maps, brochures, internet access for research and an opportunity to see local history exhibition panels, a selection of early photographs and objects. Please note that the catalogue records are a work in progress as the organisation's records and volunteers are consulted to obtain background information on the objects. Additional information is being added to the online records as it comes to hand.
From the start, the centre developed a small collection of historical items illustrating the town's past. It also collected copies of historical maps, a library of local history books and folders of local family histories. There is a database of 50,000 names of people associated with the area. This database, cemetery indexes and a large number of history files in folders assist people with genealogical and local history research. The Centre works in cooperation with the Buninyong Historical Society but is a separate organisation. As our Centre is open daily we get numerous enquiries that sometimes are referred to the Buninyong Historical Society. The Buninyong Visitor Information Centre is operated by a Joint Library Trust in association with the Buninyong Cemetery Trust.
Our collection
The collection includes the following: c.100 artefacts ranging from leather shoes made at Graham's Buninyong Tannery, local commemorative medals and badges, school items, a few locally used or found bottles (inc. a rare Buninyong Brewery bottle), framed historical photographs, a very large framed plan of the Buninyong Cemetery (along with copies of indexes and plans showing who is interred in each plot), framed wining prospectus by Niven, etc. c. 80 local history books and publications c. 20 folders of family history information c. 90 folders of local history information organised by subject A couple of albums of historical photographs 8 large framed history panels including numerous photographs 3 indexed folders of Cemetery burials A complete set of the Buninyong Community News (published from 1970s to 2020). The collection is not actively growing, however, the library collection receives a few donations.
Themes: Peopling Victoria's Places & Landscapes, Connecting Victorians by transport and communications, Transforming and managing land and natural resources, Building towns, cities and the garden state, Building community life, Shaping cultural and creative life
