ABOVE: Wayne Finch at his Kyogle home where his father created a maritime museum.
Susanna Freymark
Kyogle will not get its maritime museum.
Wayne Finch has been trying for years to establish a maritime museum in Kyogle in honour of his late father Frank Finch.
Frank collected mountains of objects from a navy career and a lifelong passion for maritime history.
For 55 years, Frank housed his collection at his Highfield Rd home in Kyogle. He built a ship structure with a crow’s nest towering above the garage. The lookout had views across the town and soft green paddocks.
Locals, schoolchildren, tourists and international visitors would call in to see the growing collection, Wayne said.
But the collection outgrew the Finch home where Wayne lives.
He tried to find a place to showcase the collection in Kyogle but none of the possibilities worked out.
Because of that, the collection of model ships and other maritime objects will be split three ways between the Maritime Union of Australia School at Sussex Inlet, the Ballina Maritime Museum and a new museum in Melbourne.
“I’m heartbroken. The two things Dad didn’t want to be happening will be happening,” Wayne said.
“To keep the collection together.
“And to keep it in Kyogle.”
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