Museum Project
Over the years of the Mallee Classic OLE, visitors were common occurrence, averaging approx. 20 per week, some visitors (Pigeon Fanciers) travelling from overseas, including countries such as Thailand, United Kingdom, New Zealand and United States of America. Some of the visitors wrote reports for various Magazines and online publications on their visits. Other visitors comprised of people from the general public fascinated with the pigeons and curious to know more about our feathered friends.
From the Development of the Australian Pigeon Centre and the new Online Event Concept “Thoroughbreds of the Sky” along with displays of Fancy/Show pigeons, we could see a need for additional information to be available to fanciers and non-fanciers alike. There may be other organisations that have something similar in Australia, but they are generally centric to existing fanciers and fail to promote or encourage people to take up pigeons. You cannot sit back and just say we have a display and hope someone will notice.
To encourage more fanciers, we need to be proactive. The Mallee Classic over the years was always innovative and leading the way for the sport and we now can see that this concept will be a success due to the interest of people already wishing to be involved by donating or volunteering to donate items. Old Fanciers pass away and many of their items and stories are thrown in the rubbish, this is a great loss to the fancy overall. The interest to support the project has been fantastic with items already coming from UK, France, US, Thailand and Australia.
The Museum will be providing an outlet for future generations to see and share in the fascination we all have for these wonderful birds by recording, maintaining and preserving the history of these feathered marvels. A key focus of the Museum is to also create a point for the public to visit and by giving them an introduction to the world of pigeons we will hopefully ignite an interest in the fancy.
We hope various fancy pigeon Organisations, Clubs and breeders can assist with items and breed descriptions/standards to help with the large number of breeds available which may interest people to take up pigeons, whether for showing or just becoming fanciers. Individuals and Organisations which support the project will be able to provide a write up displayed with the items as well to further add interest for the people who visit. Some of the people may have passed away and this will be a chance to carry on their memory.
Intended Museum Display
There will be a Homing Competition Section, Fancy/Show Section and a Pigeons in War Time Section along with a General Section.
These will comprise of Items for viewing, including photographs, wall charts, video presentations, interactive areas and even games (under Development).
The Competition Section Display
Life Rings
Event Rubbers & Ringers
Baskets Loft
Traps
Timing Systems – including Old Clocks and ETS Videos,
Photos & Interactive area with games
Prize Cards and Trophies
Wall Displays
Training
Newspaper Articles
Fancy/Show Section
Life Rings
Prize Cards & Sashes
Photos Breed Descriptions
Wall Displays
Tumblers Flying displays
Pigeons in War Time
Photos & Videos Wall Displays
General Section
History
Development of Pigeons and their growth
Books & Magazines
Medication & Caring for Pigeons
Loft Designs
Feeding
Pigeon Organisation/Breeder Contacts