Geelong Showgrounds Museum – OPEN first Sunday of every month
Visit and you’ll know more about your history
The Geelong Showgrounds Museum (GSM) opens from 10 am to 2 pm on the first Sunday of every month except January and October.
Group bookings – Service groups, schools and commercial tours (10 – 45 people) are welcome by appointment at other times. Book at Geelong Showgrounds Admin T 03 52211707
Entry – Adults $10, Student 13 – 18 $5, Under 13 free. Pay at the door.
The Museum is also open to attendees during annual Royal Geelong Shows (15 – 18 October 2026) and Classic Truck and Machinery Shows (Jan 2027)
What You’ll Find –The Museum holds objects and information from the late 1800s about many of Geelong’s innovative businesses and families in farming, commerce and industry. Regional agriculture supported a thriving port and community.
See story boards about local firms and families, farming implements of yesteryear, and Geelong Royal Show memorabilia. There is even a sea mine manufactured in wartime at the Ford Factory (1941 – 1945) and transported to the Fyansford Paper Mill to be armed before being deployed to protect our harbours from feared invasion.
Milk and Memorabilia – There were many dairy farmers on the Bellarine, and the Museum has a comprehensive display about milk production and distribution begore there were milking machines – from cream separators and bottles to horse-drawn delivery carts.
A Very Cool Career – The Museum’s hero exhibit celebrates Geelong’s famous inventor James Harrison, who in 1854 invented, designed and engineered the world’s first commercial refrigeration machine in Newtown. He also established Australia’s first ice works at North Geelong in 1858 and attempted to export frozen meat in 1873.
Production, transport and export of frozen meat are today important industries for our region – thanks, James!
The Linde Machine Project – An exciting development. During 2026 the Vintage Machinery Group will install near the GSM a huge (35 tonne) Linde refrigeration compressor used at Jackson’s Meat Works from 1909 to 1967. It froze thousands of tons of meat for export, fulfilling James Harrison’s vision for his refrigeration invention – to help our wool producers send their oversupply of meat to British markets. Until the 1880s meat was a by-product of wool production, so much was wasted, while British markets were starved of meat; as Harrison foresaw, refrigeration could solve both problems.
A fund-raising drive to support the community-led Linde Machine installation at the Showgrounds is now in progress.
More Information –
Raising funds to honour James Harrison | HVAC&R News
James Harrison & the Linde Machine Project | Geelong Showgrounds
Information for your visit –
Geelong Showgrounds Museum, Gate 2, Breakwater Rd, East Geelong & turn left
Opening dates and times
First Sunday Dates in 2026 – Sunday 3 May, Sunday 7 June, Sunday 5 July, Sunday 2 August, Sunday 6 September, 15 – 18 October, Sunday 1 November, Sunday 6 December – NB January and October are excepted.
First Sunday Times – 10 am – 2 pm
Facilities – parking, accessible toilet
