Hastings Museum and Art Gallery

The Hastings Museum and Art Gallery contains a rich and exotic mixture of fine paintings and china, the cultures of other lands, well-known personalities such as John Logie Baird and Robert Tressell, and a contrasting view of local wildlife today and as it would have been 150 million years ago. It's a fun and fascinating visit that's interesting to all ages and tremendously educational to boot.

There are plenty of special features for children, with fossils that transform into dinosaurs, prehistoric crocodiles and fish, a diorama of local animals and birds, Native American Galleries complete with tipi and buffalo, and a display on Hastings born conservationist, Grey Owl.

Kids wil also enjoy learning about local smuggling history! Sneaky purveyors of tea, tobacco and spirits indulged in a spot of owling" and could make a week's wages in a night… hard to resist!

The most spectacular part of the Museum is the magnificent Durbar Hall constructed for the Indian and Colonial Exhibition of 1886 as part of an Indian Palace. It now contains displays relating to the Indian subcontinent, and to the life of the Brassey family with artefacts collected on their voyages around the world in the 19th century."