Valley Feature
MARY BOULTON'S PIONEER COTTAGE AND MUSEUM- A local ICON

The Valley Hub caught up with Mary Boulton’s Pioneer Cottage and Museum.
How long has Mary Boulton’s Cottage been in Macksville
The cottage opened on the 4th of April 1970 with great success. The Macksville Pony Club had pony rides; there were 2 sulkies and a vintage car giving rides, shingle splitting demonstrations, and tea and damper was served. The cost of entry was 20 cents per person.
What is the history behind Mary Boulton’s Pioneer Cottage and Museum?
In 1968, inspired by seeing similar sites on her visits through the USA, Mary began building the Pioneer Cottage next to her home in River Street, Macksville.
Rebuilt from remains of two early settler homes – one from Macksville and the other from Allgomera. The 3 rooms are fully furnished with period furniture and artifacts – a bedroom, a fully functional kitchen, and an enclosed rear veranda where the children would have slept (complete with newspapers glued to the walls to prevent wind draughts).
The cottage is standing on the original land package which was selected by her grandfather, Thomas Boulton in 1899.
Many local people assisted Mary in the operation of the business leading to the establishment of The Macksville & District History Group.
In 1999, aged 85, Mary sold/donated the Cottage & Museum complex to the (then) Nambucca Shire Council to preserve her legacy for the benefit of the people.
Tell us about what you can find at Mary Boulton’s Pioneer Cottage and Museum?
Aside from the cottage, there is a huge collection of artifacts held in various areas in 7 other buildings.
The Wash House
Displays here show the movement from timber wash tubs to concrete tubs, coppers, and early hand-operated washing machines. The Mangle is from an early Macksville Hospital. Laundry pegs, packets of starch and the very useful Blue Bags are also of interest.
The Industry Shed
On display are tools, machinery, items, and photographs of various industries of the district, including timber, horticulture, agriculture, animal husbandry such as beef and dairy, fishing, bananas, railways, and retail stores.
The Cream Shed
A small creamery displaying old butter churns, milk separators, butter boxes, and milk and cream bottles. Dairying in the Nambucca Valley began in the 1860’s. For the next 100 years almost every farm milked cows for milk, butter, and cheese. These were abundant in the valley. The Cream Shed in relocated from the farm of Richard Dangar Bond at Grays Crossing (Taylors Arm).
The Gaol Cell
This type of portable lock-up was used throughout New South Wales and shows how lawbreakers were confined in earlier times. This cell was originally located in western NSW and was relocated to Nambucca Heads in 1960 and then on to Macksville Police Station. When it was no longer required it was donated to the museum.
The Barn
A slab building was relocated from the Lower Macleay area. Displays include a range of horse-drawn vehicles and equipment including the buggy that belonged to Colonel Spalding (a local historical figure). There are hand-made avatars of people and horses, these help make up the displays, which were made by a granddaughter of the Colonel.
The Bark Hut
In the early 1830’s, the hunt for Red Cedar was the prime reason European and Asiatic men and women came to the Nambucca Valley. Initially, huts like this were built by cedar getters using only what they could find in the scrub. Constant repair to the hut is ongoing with bark becoming very difficult to obtain from forestry activities. due to environmental laws.
The Ellen Partridge Annexe
This building is named in honour of Ellen, a long-time friend of Mary and avid volunteer at the museum. This building contains an amazing array of artifacts including household equipment and items, clothing, children’s toys, books and playthings, medical equipment and supplies, telephones, musical equipment (including old organs), and sewing machines.
The Brunsdon Research Room
Found within the Annexe is the newest addition to the museum. Built with the assistance of grant funding and money raised by museum volunteers this addition is currently being furnished with artifact collections of textiles, newspapers, books, maps, and photographs. It provides a space for the public and staff to research the available information held at the museum. We also provide Family Research and we have a dedicated researcher who can assist with local family history.
The Gardens and Grounds
The garden was important to pioneers for vegetables, fruit, shade and also flowers. Originally all the flower beds were edged by upturned bottles and these can be seen around the cottage garden. The museum volunteers are regularly assisted by the Nambucca Valley Garden club, and the gardens are currently undergoing some improvements.
The Grounds are available for hire for weddings, naming and special days and as an outing place for clubs and organisations.
Who looks after and runs the Mary Boulton’s Pioneer Cottage and Museum? – The Museum is owned by the Nambucca Valley Council and is managed by Volunteers of the Mary Boulton Pioneer Cottage and Museum Committee of Management. This is under Section 355 of the N.S.W. Local Government Act.
The volunteers are not paid and the Museum receives minimal financial assistance from council, however receives significant support from council in the areas of grant procurements and legislative requirements.
The volunteers are responsible for raising funds for day-to-day operations of the Museum, including staffing on open days, maintenance and preservation of the collection of artefacts, maintaining and complying with the conventions of NSW Museums and Galleries, maintenance of buildings and ground, payment of accounts, assisting with coach tours and visitors, research for family histories, the list is endless as is the need to recruit new volunteers. We currently have 17 members with only about 2-5 available at any one time.
What is happening in 2024 for The Mary Boulton’s Pioneer Cottage and Museum? –This year sees new challenges for the volunteers of the Museum, we have some older volunteers that have reduced their commitment and younger members have moved on to new and more exciting things.
Recruitment – is vital to keep the museum running.
Increasing public awareness – Finding space in places like The Hub, sourcing grants to assist with signage around the local area, increasing social media variety and presence. We now have a dedicated Publicity Officer.
Visitation – Much of the income of the museum comes from visiting coach tours, which have been down in numbers since the Covid debacle. We have been working hard to attract coach tour operators local, state and interstate to add us to their visitation list. This coming year is starting off well, with 10 coach tours booked in already for the first half of this year (approx. 300-400 people). We supply morning teas to some of these groups (all home-made and baked), so our small numbers of volunteers are going to be very busy at times.
Grants – There are several grant opportunities through Museums and Galleries of NSW this year. We are in the process of updating some of our displays in the Industry Shed, with plans for interpretive panels in other museum areas and grant funding will allow us to complete these.
Gardens and Grounds – Rejuvenating several areas of the gardens including planting, replanting and general maintenance. The gardens take up quite a bit of area and are in constant need of attention.
Maintenance – There is always things to be fixed around the museum and this year will be no different. The Shakes (shingle looking tiles) that form the cottage roof are in desperate need of replacement (which should happen every 20 or so years) and we are looking into the logistics of this. Luckily Council is amenable to proving some assistance in this area, if we come up with the dollars.
Fund Raising – Each year we try to hold some events that attract a good crowd to raise money and gain donations. This year will see our History week in September which will include our Spring Fashion Parade, we have monthly gatherings called Golden Oldies and it is hoped that some of our volunteers will be able to organise regular book swap days and produce swap days, which are always a bit of fun, we also have started High Tea afternoons.
With all this going on this year at the museum and running our day to day lives with work and family, our volunteers are an amazing bunch of people. So it is hopeful that we may find a few extra committed and interested members to help out around the museum from time to time.