The museum’s operation was first established at the Old Post Office in Laurie Street during 1988 and moved to the School of Arts in Bold Street in 2003.

The society’s president Phil Bowman said it’s important to acknowledge the society’s significance. 

“It’s terribly important because the history we preserve here is the history of the local area,” he said. 

“If we don’t preserve it, it will get swamped out and people 100 years from now will be saying ‘what happened?’”

Mr Bowman doesn’t believe that history repeats itself. 

“It’s different because the people are different,” he said. 

Mr Bowman said there have been inaccurate recordings of events which have been taken on as the truth by people.

Mr Bowman said 100 years ago people were very stationary but today they are very mobile. 

“That’s the biggest problem we have,” he said. 

“People come in because they hear a few stories and that’s the one they go with.”

Mr Bowman said it’s important that everyone has the opportunity to know the ‘correct story’. 

“You’ve got to go back to the primary source,” he said. 

Mr Bowman said even though the society has been operational for 30 years there is still a lot of work to do. 

“We’re just digitalising our records now and then we’ll move on to our photographs and then objects,” he said. 

“We’ve got a long way to go yet before we can call ourselves an accredited museum.” 

Port Macquarie-Hastings Council mayor Peta Pinson said she thanked all the people involved in preserving the history of Laurieton and its surrounds. 

She said over the last 30 years the Camden Haven Historical Society has made a significant contribution. 

Cr Peter Alley said every community needs custodians of societal history and it’s fantastic to have the museum located centrally, directly opposite the local cinema on Bold Street. 

Cr Lee Dixon said it’s important the community respects the heritage of the area and moving forward it should be included in any future vision for the local area. 

To celebrate the 30 year anniversary, the museum is free to enter for the week from March 5, 9am until 1pm.