Waikerie and District Historical Society are based in the main section of the former Council Chambers building, built in 1933, at the corner of Peake Terrace and Goodchild Street, next door to the Rain Moth Art Gallery. The additional room at the back of the Council Chambers building is currently used by the toy library and was built during the 1950s to house the town’s fire truck.
The society’s collection of digitised historic photographs of the area (the Waikerie Heritage Collection) were amassed over a number of years for the compilation of two history books: Meredith Arnold’s Waikerie & District: A pictorial history (1989) and Jean Nunn’s History of Waikerie: Gateway to the Riverland (1994). The society aims to make a selection of these photographs available for purchase.
In recent years the society has received funding and support from Country Arts SA, Arts SA, the History Trust, the Loxton Waikerie Council and Open Space Contemporary Arts (OSCA) to digitise and present a number of short movies made in the area during the 1950s and 1960s by a group of Waikerie filmmakers known as the Waikerie Filmo Club. These films form an integral part in recording Waikerie’s cultural and social history while highlighting the residents involved and were launched at the 2018 History Festival. A DVD and booklet was also produced and available for sale.