Toutes les Machines du Monde
Australia & New Zealand
Click on the photo for each museum to visit our photo page for that museum
Museums are arranged by rating, with Auto & Motorcycle collections first followed by Aviation & Rail
The Bill Richardson Transport World ★★★★★
Invercargill, New Zealand
https://www.transportworld.co.nz
This is a wonderful new museum in a purpose built building covering an entire city block. It just opened in 2015 and while it is billed as primarily a truck museum, it is much more than that. While there are said to be 140 trucks, there are also many wonderful old cars, tractors, and memorabilia of all sorts. There is something of a focus on the early work of Henry Ford, including examples of all but one of the models he produced between his original Model A (not the later ‘A’ introduced in 1927 to supersede the ubiquitous Model T, but rather the first one built in 1903) and the 1908 debut of the Model T. It is great to see them all together; something I have not come across before. All in all this is an excellent collection and it is beautifully displayed. While many of the vehicles are displayed in clean but unrestored condition, this in no way detracts from the quality of the museum and those vehicles that have been fully restored are beautifully done. If you can find your way to Invercargill at the southern tip of New Zealand, I can highly recommend a visit to this museum.
Classic Motorcycle Mecca ★★★★★
Invercargill, New Zealand
https://www.transportworld.co.nz/motorcycle-mecca/
This is an excellent collection opened in 2016 in a lovely old building in downtown Invercargill. It is associated with the excellent Bill Richardson Transport World and a combination ticket is available. The collection features mostly American and British makes with some Italian and German bikes as well. It also features a fair number of sidecar rigs and even a couple of Morgan three-wheelers, properly identifying them as being registered as motorcycles rather than cars. The space is beautiful and the bikes are imaginatively displayed with excellent lighting. One strength of this collection is the number of bikes from a given manufacturer, which allows for comparison between different models and years. As a good example, I don’t recall ever seeing so many Brough Superiors in one place. Look closely at the photos and you will see the groupings of bikes; a row of Indians or Harleys or Triumphs, etc. An extraordinary collection; highly recommended.
National Automobile Museum of Tasmania ★★★★
Launceston, Tasmania, Australia
This museum is a real jewel. Located in Launceston, Tasmania’s second largest city, it’s just a little out of the way for many travelers, but is well worth finding. The cars and motorcycles on display are not owned by the museum, but are loaned by collectors for varying lengths of time so the actual vehicles being shown when you visit will vary. Nonetheless, the quality and variety of the cars and motorcycles on view at the time of my visit speaks very highly of the depth of exhibits available in Tasmania. I have no doubt that whenever you visit this museum the displayed vehicles will be excellent and worthy of your time. While nominally an Automobile museum, there are also a fair number of motocycles on display; some mixed among the cars on the main floor, but most in a separate loft area. The museum is currently housed in a charming space but will soon be moving to a brand new purpose built facility nearby. We can only hope the homey and welcoming atmosphere of the old building will not be lost. Kudos to both the museum’s management and staff and also to the collectors of Tasmania for sharing these lovely vehicles with us.
World’s Fastest Indian Displays ★★★★
Invercargill, New Zealand
www.ehayes.co.nz; www.southlandmuseum.co.nz
The name Burt Munro is known to motorcyclists around the world, primarily through the 2005 movie “The World’s Fastest Indian”, starring Anthony Hopkins. Burt was born and lived his life here in Invercargill, the southern most city in New Zealand, and is a local hero. There are two main exhibits honoring him and his famous motorcycle, which began life as a 1920 Indian Scout. If you make the pilgrimage to Invercargill, as I did, you will find a small exhibition in the regional Southland Museum along with a recently completed life size bronze statue of Burt riding his streamlined machine. But the actual machine, along with lots of other bikes and a few cars can only be seen by taking a run downtown to the E Hayes Hardware Store to see the E Hayes Motorworks Collection. Yes, this is a real live working hardware store and a very nice one at that. Inside, scattered among the shelves of nuts and bolts, paint, tools and all the other things you’d hope to find in your local emporium, is a very worthwhile collection of motoring history. Pride of place goes to Burt’s actual bike, inside a glass case. Make the trip, see the bikes and visit the two other terrific motor museums in Invercargill. You’ll be glad you did.
Southward Car Museum ★★★★
Paraparaumu, North Island, New Zealand
https://www.southwardcarmuseum.co.nz
I found this museum to be a bit of a disappointment, primarily because I feel the museum is oversold somewhat on its own website. In describing the museum, they fall back on the much overused term, “World Class”, and it really isn’t. While there are a number of interesting cars on display, most of them are lined up in a crowded parking lot formation that makes it impossible to appreciate the qualities of each individual vehicle. The cars are generally in good but seldom outstanding condition and photography is difficult due to the crowding of the cars. This is a shame really and if the curators would simply remove about one third of the vehicles and perhaps rotate the displays from time to time the overall affect of the exhibit would be greatly enhanced. My four star rating is somewhat reluctant but given in respect to the quality of the cars themselves and not the overall museum experience.
Gippsland Vehicle Collection ★★★★
Maffra, Victoria, Australia
http:/www.gippslandvehiclecollection.org.au
This is a delightful local collection that relies on the loan of vehicles from an apparently extensive group of supporters and on the commitment of a number of volunteers. The collection is housed in an older warehouse that is entirely suitable for the purpose and continues to undergo restoration and improvement as time goes on. The collection features themed exhibitions that change two to three times a year so the vehicles on display change regularly. At the time of my visit in May 2018 the exhibition featured Chrysler and its divisions and my photos reflect that. I highly recommend a visit to this museum not only because of the terrific vehicles on display, but also for the obvious commitment of the volunteer staff and the vehicle owners themselves. As an added bonus, the town of Maffra represents the best of small town Australia and is worthy of a visit all on its own. On our photo page I’ve included more information panels than usual due to their personal nature in telling the story of each individual vehicle.
Highlands Motorsport Park, Racetrack and Museum ★★★★
Cromwell, Otago, New Zealand
We just happened upon this lovely facility having noticed a billboard telling us it was a race weekend. So we paused in our travels, waited an extra day and took in both the racing and the quite wonderful racing museum on site. It is a very nice race track only a few years old and the museum is excellent. Cars of varying vintage and types are displayed in a well light and quite spacious facility. A great place to see a race and a nice museum all at once.
The National Motor Museum ★★★
Birdwood, South Australia, Australia
http:/www.motor.history.sa.gov.au
This is a pleasant but not outstanding museum located about an hour outside Adelaide in South Australia. The collection is varied and includes automobiles, motorcycles and a few transport trucks and buses. The focus of the museum is, quite naturally, on the history of Australian motoring, with exhibits on the exploration of the continent by motor car and on early motoring heroes such as Tom Kruse who famously delivered the mail to remote outback locations for many decades. Some information is also offered on the history of auto manufacturing in Australia, which only ended in 2016. I learned a lot about this topic during my visit but wished there were even more to see. Apart from a few recently done exhibits, which are excellent, the overall museum experience suffers from the inconsistent quality and state of preparation of the individual vehicles and the somewhat crowded and random display halls. I readily admit that my being a non-Australian may have lessened my enjoyment of this museum. The staff members I encountered were delightful and friendly and if you are in the area I can certainly recommend a visit.
National Motor Racing Museum ★★★
Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia
Here is another pleasant but not outstanding museum, this one located west of Sydney at the Mount Panorama Racing Circuit in Bathurst. It is a nice space, but not large; and some of the cars are part of the museum’s permanent collection while others are on loan from their owners. Not mentioned at all on the museums’s website but happily present at the time of my visit was a large collection of motorcycles. Among the motorcycles, pride of place for me goes to the Wayne Gardner 1987 500cc World Championship Honda NSR. Given Australia’s long association with international racing of both cars and motorcycles I had hoped for a greater representation of vehicles from the Tasman Cup Series along with both Auto and Motorcycle Grand Prix racing. In this I was disappointed as the collection on display is heavily weighted toward Australian sedan racing. Whether this is always the case or a matter of timing I cannot say. The museum does a good job of providing informational panels for the exhibits and is well decorated with video screens, posters and other memorabilia. No doubt it is a popular place for fans of Australian racing as well it should be.
Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre ★★★★★
Marlborough, New Zealand
This amazing place on the South Island of New Zealand shares the incredible collection of WWI airplanes put together by the famed film director Peter Jackson. As you will see in the photos, not only are the planes themselves worthy of any museum in the world, the manner in which they are displayed goes well beyond the norm. The lifelike mannequins and scenes not only show the planes to excellent advantage, but help create a sense of time and place that really cannot be matched. If you have a list of aviation museums you’d really like to see, this one has to be on it. In alternate years, Omaka hosts the annual War Birds Downunder event, sharing the honor with the Temora museum shown below. The museum space is shared with a separate WWII exhibit, which is also excellent.
Temora Aviation Museum ★★★★★
Temora, New South Wales, Australia
This is a lovely spot. Temora was the home of No. 10 Elementary Flying School, one of the RAAFs major pilot training centers during WWII. The museum occupies the original aerodrome facility, including one of the original buildings, now used as the Visitor Center. The museum appears to be a first class operation with a paid staff of fifteen and many volunteers. The collection is small, but the planes are beautiful and all are maintained in flying condition. The museum space is large and well decorated, though the lighting could be better for photography. The maintenance shop is visible from a loft perspective so the planes undergoing overhaul can be seen. Monthly flying days are a feature of the program and we made a return visit to experience one, which was a real treat. In alternate years, Temora hosts the annual War Birds Downunder event, sharing the honor with the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre shown above. A really nice museum in a beautiful part of Australia. Not to be missed.
Air Force Museum of New Zealand ★★★★
Wigram AFB, Christchurch, New Zealand
http://www.airforcemuseum.co.nz/
This is the official museum of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Housed in a very nice purpose built building on the grounds of Wigram Air Force Base in Christchurch on the South Island, the collection is wide ranging and nicely presented. The museum covers air craft from WWI to Viet Nam and even more recent conflicts. Lighting is good and there are many special exhibits and well done story boards on many subjects. Together with the aviation display at MOTAT up in Auckland, this museum does good work in representing the efforts of the men and women who have served in the New Zealand Air Force.
MOTAT, the Museum of Transport & Technology ★★★★
Auckland, New Zealand
This complex of museum spaces in Auckland provides something of interest for everyone. It is also located in a fairground type space with parks and play areas that make it a great place for a day out for the family. We limited our visit to the Aviation Museum, which especially focuses on the contribution made by New Zealanders to the air war effort in WWII. Excellent displays of aircraft and other equipment and memorabilia are combined with audio visual display areas featuring testimonials by veterans of that war. These were very well done and quite moving. An excellent museum.
Croydon Aviation Heritage Centre, ★★★★
Mandeville, New Zealand
http://www.croydonaviation.co.nz
This small but beautiful museum has been around for a long time. It is known for its primarily DeHaviland collection and all the planes are said to be in flying condition. The hanger is rather crowded for optimum viewing and on a sunny day such as the one when we visited the light coming in the open hangar doors can be overly bright, making photography difficult. Still well worth the visit. The countryside around Mandeville is lovely as well. The gift shop and memorabilia on display are of a high quality.