General News
23 April, 2025
Centre to celebrate milestone
AN exciting year awaits the Mareeba Heritage Centre, with a myriad of events planned to mark its 30th anniversary.
The Mareeba Heritage Museum and Visitor Information Centre opened its doors on 14 October 1995 and this year it will celebrate its 30th anniversary through a range of events including: a high tea, trivia night, comedy nights, cocktail party and a grand finale circus show.
The centre welcomes on average 60,000 visitors per year and currently has a team of 37 dedicated volunteers.
Centre manager Sandrine Gloton said she was excited for the year ahead and to broaden the horizons of the centre.
“We’re really excited. There’s not a great deal to do in Mareeba at night, so we want to give the community something different to do on a Friday or Saturday night,” she said.
“We also want to show people that we’re not just a museum with a bunch of objects inside. We’re more than that. We’re a venue and we can host great events.
“We want to be the community hub that promotes Mareeba for what it is.”
Ms Gloton also said she was proud of how the Heritage Centre positively impacts the town’s economy and tourism.
“The Heritage Centre has a few different hats and contributes to Mareeba’s economy, tourism, and community,” she said.
“We’re the visitor information centre, so we’re the first point of contact for people who come to town.
“We promote what to see and what to do. We try to keep people in the area for as long as we can and transform their short stop into a longer stay.
“We try to partner quite a bit with all the businesses in town, so we’re the hub for economy in Mareeba to promote what’s here.
“Then there’s the museum side of things, we preserve Mareeba’s culture and heritage, we’re story tellers of what Mareeba is all about, and we want to keep doing that.
“Also, the heritage evolves, it’s not set in stone. Now is tomorrow’s heritage.
“So, we want to keep this centre as a vibrant, community hub for the town,” she said.
The first event the centre has planned is a Mother’s Day High Tea which will take place on 11 May and feature Ida Portella’s Comedy Tours.
The cost is $65 per person and bookings are essential. For more information or to book, visit www.trybooking.com/DAEPD.
The next event will be a trivia night on 20 June followed by a country-comedy night on 22 and 23 August.
There will then be two events in October. The first will be fundraising cocktail party followed by the grand finale.
“We’re doing a fundraising cocktail party, with Ida as our MC. The funds raised will go towards new exhibits, with two priorities: a World War 11 exhibit and a streetscape extension,” Ms Gloton said.
“And on 18 October, we’re having Dreamstate Entertainment doing their circus acts here at the museum for the grand finale.
“They are world-renowned and are very talented, so I’m very excited for that event.”
For more information call 4092 5674, or to monitor future updates, visit their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/visitMAREEBA.
Events
Mother’s Day High Tea at Jamieson House – 11 May
Trivia Night – 20 June
Country Comedy Tours – 22-23 August
Anniversary Cocktail Party – 14 October
The Grand Finale “Night at the Museum with Dream State Entertainment” – 18 October
