MUSEUMS can struggle to catch the eye of the younger generation, but the Catalina Flying Boat Museum in Lake Boga is making history fun for kids with a new interactive display.
“We’re delighted with all this new technology,” Lake Boga Lions Club member David Mark said. “It allows people to connect with their history – little towns in the Mallee can lose their history so quickly.”
The display launch was held on Sunday with Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh and another guests.
Member for Mallee Anne Webster visited earlier in the week, and she had nothing but applause for the upgrade.
“It’s important that history is not left in the dark but brought to life and accessible to all ages,” she said.
“I commend the Lion’s Club and the Catalina Flying Boat Museum for the investment of time, energy and funds to continue to bring the history of the World War II Catalina RAAF Base to young students and visitors alike through modern technology.”
Mr Mark said: “We’ve only just found out Year 9 and 10 (students) have the world wars as part of their curriculum, so for them to have the opportunity to learn about it from someone who was actually there is fantastic.”
There are interactive screens around the museum, but the crown jewel of the upgrade is definitely the interactive film room.
The room can hold 25 people and has nine videos with commentary by veteran Dick Udy.
“We recorded the five people that feature on these videos before COVID-19, and they’ve all passed now unfortunately,” Mr Mark said.
“Dick Udy, who’s in the films, was about 95 when we filmed this, and he was a navigator for the Catalinas – when we first set up back in the mid-90s, he came and told us how he did the flight into Hong Kong harbour to mine it – and that’s in one of these videos.”
Another display that is sure to be a favourite of visitors is that of the refurbished Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
“Patrick Dillon only passed away last September, and he was a great support to us through the years,” Mr Mark said.
“He had this original Harley World War II bike that he fixed and gave us to put on display – he talks all about it on his interactive video.”
This was made possible thanks to a $50,000 grant from the Federal Government.
But the project would never have been completed without the incredible work of volunteers and filmmakers.
“The grant financed the recording and brought the displays to fruition,” Mr Mark said.
“All these stories were recorded by a local and sent to Pat McCluskey up in Sydney, who edited them and set the displays up for us.
“It was about trying to capture this history while we recorded them, but then the way to display it became a problem until Pat came along, and he’s brought us into the 21st century with a bang.”
Families of veterans attended on Sunday and enjoyed much more than just the opening of the interactive display.
“We have this new exhibit from the Lake Boga Commercial Hotel that’s a piece of plaster cut out from the walls of the hotel, which the soldiers wrote messages on during the war,” Mr Mark said.
“We also unveiled a new portrait of our two founding members.”
