Geelong council has announced in-principle support for the Geelong Museum of Motoring and Industry, with the former Ford factory nominated as the preferred site.
The museum would house a collection of historically significant vehicles, artworks and artefacts from the motoring and other important industries based in Geelong throughout the city’s history.
The collection, which is currently in storage at a number of sites in Melbourne and Geelong, includes cars from the Model T to some of Ford’s last produced models, as well as one of pioneering inventor James Harrison’s original refrigerators.
Council noted the results of a business feasibility study, which also looked at the idea of a ‘Big Thing’ for Geelong.
Deputy mayor Anthony Aitken and former councillor Kylie Grzybk put forward a notice of motion in November 2021 to investigate the ideas of a dedicated museum and Big Thing in Geelong.
Cr Aitken said the Museum of Motoring and Industry was an opportunity for Geelong to embrace its history as a manufacturing giant in Australia.
“Our industrial and motoring history… is such an important component of our development as a city over the last 100 years,” he said.
“And I’m pleased to say that the feasibility report not only says it’s viable, it says that it is warranted.
“But the most important thing is the report tells us that if we don’t do something the collection, essentially the original Ford Australia Motoring Collection, is under threat… of being lost.”
Cr Aitken encouraged current owners of the former Ford factory site to consider Geelong’s heritage if the museum sought to be located there.
The report also identified Seagull Paddock as a second option for both the motoring museum and the Big Thing.
