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Explore Coffs Collections (Online)

The fascinating cultural treasures and stories that shaped Coffs Harbour and its region are now available online anywhere anytime at the touch of a button following the global launch of Coffs Harbour City Council’s digital Coffs Collections service.

For the very first time, you can discover and journey through the extensive historic and present-day artefacts, oral histories, documents, films, photographs, publications and art collections of Coffs Harbour’s past and present – all together in the one place and easily accessible from anywhere in the world.

Having this new digital space is going to give people access to an enormous and fascinating world. It’s ideal for anyone isolated at home or living outside the region who wants to connect to the art and heritage of Coffs Harbour.

Coffs Collections includes over 7,000 photographs from Coffs Harbour’s past, historical maps of the region – including a 1942 marine chart secretly created by the Japanese government during World War II – while details of our past local history are brought vividly to life in the pages of a wide range of documents including local newsletters.

In addition, you can watch films and actually hear the voices and stories of our past community through 140 oral history interviews. A much wider audience can now also learn about the original custodians of the land, the Gumbaynggirr people, and hear local elders speak and sing in traditional language.

Museum and Gallery collecting is ongoing and both collections contain a great deal of contemporary material including items from the 2019 bushfires and renowned artist Ben Quilty’s recent artwork donation. Some artefacts that are soon to be included combine the two – artworks created by local children from the Orara Valley who experienced the recent bushfires firsthand.

The development of Coffs Collections was funded by the NSW Government (Create NSW) in association with the Coffs Harbour City Council.