‘Birthplace of the nation’ to close as cash-strapped NSW council can’t afford heritage-listed museum

Exclusive: Sir Henry Parkes memorial school of arts – home of the 1889 Tenterfield oration – to close in a fortnight

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The first museum included on the National Trust register will close its doors at the end of the month, leaving its century-old artefacts of federation locked behind glass until further notice.

The Sir Henry Parkes memorial school of arts is the site of the five-time premier’s famous Tenterfield oration in 1889, regarded as the first direct appeal to the public for an Australian nation-state to unite the colonies.

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