• Poochera and Districts Historical Society

    The society runs a small local history museum with early pioneering relics and facts about the rare dinosaur ant rediscovered at Poochera in the 1970s.

The society runs a small local history museum which displays some interesting memorabilia from the pioneering days.

Along with old agricultural machinery, one of the most notable exhibits displayed in the grounds of the museum, is a restored shack made from flattened kerosene tins and poles cut from local pine trees. Known as Peter’s Humpy, it was relocated from the western end of town and was built in a patch of scrub in the 1920s by Peter Sheridan (1870-1954). The floor was of compacted hard dirt with mats made from wheat bags, and Peter built a bunk, cupboards and a table and chair from kerosene boxes.

The museum also contains information about the world’s most primitive living ant Nothomyrmecia macrop. Poochera is home to these rare dinosaur ants, considered a living fossil.  They were originally discovered in 1931 near Esperance in Western Australia and rediscovered at Poochera in 1977 by Dr Bob Taylor and a party of entomologists from Canberra.

The town was first surveyed in 1920. The Poochera community will be celebrating the town’s centenary in September 2020.  Members of the society are currently working on updating a history book Towards the Mist which was written about Poochera in 1995 for the town’s 75th anniversary.

Wednesday 9.30am–3pm
Or by appointment

Phillip Gosling
0427 706 3014
phillip.gosling@outlook.com

Poochera and Districts Historical Society

The society runs a small local history museum with early pioneering relics and facts about the rare dinosaur ant rediscovered at Poochera in the 1970s.