Join us as we open our doors to the past for the 2025 ACT Heritage Festival. From garden tours to creative workshops and compelling conversations, ACT Historic Places and Canberra Museum + Gallery are presenting a rich program of events that bring Canberra’s stories to life. Whether you're uncovering neighbourhood secrets on Mugga Way or celebrating trailblazers like Sylvia Curley, these events offer rare and rewarding ways to connect with the people, places and history that shaped our city.
🌲 TOUR: Calthorpes House Gardens Unearthed
Enjoy a tour of the public and private ‘rooms' in the garden and hear the stories of Dawn Waterhouse (née Calthorpe) about her life growing up on Mugga Way.
📅 Saturdays 12, 19 and 26 April
🕚 1pm and 2:30pm
📍 Calthorpes House
🎫 General Admission $12 - Concession $10 (+bf)
📸 WORKSHOP: Storytelling through Photography at Mugga Mugga Cottage
Join us for this full-day workshop exploring Mugga Mugga Cottage and expressing its history and stories through creative photography.
📅 Sunday 4th May
🕚 9:30am - 4:30pm
📍 Mugga Mugga Cottage
🎫 General Admission $150 (+bf)
🏡 WALKING TOUR: ‘The Law and the Profits' - Who was who on Mugga Way?
This walk introduces you to some of the folks that made their lives along Mugga Way, neighbours for Harry and Della Calthorpe of Calthorpes House.
📅 Sunday 4th May
🕚 1pm
📍 Calthorpes House
🎫 General Admission $20 - Concession $15 (+bf)
👩⚕️ TALK: Celebrating Sylvia Curley - Canberra’s Trailblazing Pioneer
Discover the inspiring life of Sylvia Curley, a trailblazing nurse, advocate, and historian who shaped Canberra’s heritage.
📅 Saturday 10 May
🕚 1pm
📍 Mugga Mugga Cottage
🎫 General Admission $20 - Concession $15 (+bf)
From Our Friends at Canberra Museum + Gallery
🌎 TALK: Chile to Lanyon - Migration Connections and Earthen Constructions
Join Canberra architect and researcher Fernando Pino as he unearths the story of Eusebio Ponce and Rupelto Rodrigues, two Chilean men who in the 1860s were employed at Lanyon Homestead.
📅 Wednesday 30 April
🕚 12:30pm
📍 Canberra Museum + Gallery
🎫 Pay What You Want pricing (+bf)
💒 TALK: War, Art and the Love Story Behind Roland Wakelin’s Canberra
Join Senior Curator Virginia Rigney to uncover the wartime love story behind Roland Wakelin’s serene depiction of the Canberra Methodist Church in Reid.
📅 Wednesday 7 May
🕚 12:30pm
📍 Canberra Museum + Gallery
🎫 Pay What You Want pricing (+bf)
👮♂️ TALK: Captain Faunce - Policing Canberra's Colonial Frontier
Join Senior Curator Virginia Rigney to uncover the wartime love story behind Roland Wakelin’s serene depiction of the Canberra Methodist Church in Reid.
📅 Wednesday 14 May
🕚 12:30pm
📍 Canberra Museum + Gallery
🎫 Pay What You Want pricing (+bf)