Max's treasure trove on display

It is a case of one man’s trash is another man’s treasure at the Wellstead Homestead and Pioneer Museum in Bremer Bay.

Picture by Laurie Benson

The museum boasts more than 5900 heritage items used by the first pioneers in Australia and other collectible items from around the world.

Max Wellstead, whose great-grandfather John Wellstead settled Bremer Bay in the 1850s, established the museum based at the family homestead in 1985 to exhibit the tools, machinery and appliances used by the State’s first pioneers.

One piece in the museum holds particular personal sentimental value to Mr Wellstead – his first car.

Mr Wellstead bought the black 1931 Chevrolet after winning £250 in a lottery when he was 18.

The car, which has been lovingly restored, reigns over a handful of other vintage classics in the museum, including a Cobb & Co coach Wellstead bought from the late Paul Terry, a 1917 Ford Model T which was a Melbourne taxi in a former life, and the only properly restored Ford A in Australia.

“I bought the Ford A for 100 quid to burn around the farm in years ago (and) I ran it into the ground,” Mr Wellstead said.

“I was going to sell it for bits and pieces, I got a chap out there to look at it and he said ‘Why would you want to sell this? This is one of only 100 imported into Australia and there are only three of them left, you should be restoring this’.

“So I set about restoring it … $30,000 later and it’s in pristine condition.”

The Wellstead Homestead and Pioneer Museum is at 440 Wellstead Road, Bremer Bay, and is open every day in January.

To read more about the museum, get a copy of the Albany Magazine in the January 26 edition of the Albany Advertiser.