EVENT - LithGlow 2018 at the SAF Museum

12/13 May 2018


In conjunction with the National Trust’s Heritage Festival and LithGlow 2018, the Museum is conducting guided tours through the old Factory site ...more information

By night the Factory buildings will come alive with lighting, projections onto the buildings and a WWII search light ... more information

The Museum will also host special demonstrations on firearms during extended opening hours ...more information

Enjoy all the Museum has to offer. Have a picnic on the lawn behind the Museum, bring your own, or light refreshments will be available for purchase in the old Canteen.


Guided tours of old site Saturday 12 May & Sunday 13 May from 10am to 4pm
Cost: $20 per person (includes Museum admission)
Numbers limited to 12 per group (sorry, no children under 14)
Pre-booking essential:
    Please email admin@lithgowsafmuseum.org.au or phone 0427 560 238
    with your preferred time slot: morning (10 - 12), mid (12 - 2), afternoon (2 - 4)
    and we will send you a pre-booking confirmation and/or information sheet.
    When tour times are firm we will let you know the start time for your tour.
Visit the Museum and firearms demonstrations Open hours: Saturday 10am to 10pm, Sunday 10am to 4pm
Adults $10, Concession $7, Child $5, Family $20 (2 adults, children under 17)
Special demonstrations run Saturday night between 6pm and 10pm
    - unique and unusual handguns
    - from flintlock to automatic
    - rifling a gun barrel
lighting displays Light show free from 6pm Saturday on lawn behind the Museum
Bookings not necessary
Normal admission prices apply to also see the Museum collection and demos.
Visitor information Where: 69 Methven Street, Lithgow
Parking: Off-street parking available. Enter gates at the left side of the Museum
Food: Light snacks will be available in the old canteen throughout both days.
          Steak and sausage sandwiches and soup Saturday night from 6pm.

mud map

Tours of the old Factory site

Factory site drawing 1962

Factory site drawing 1962

Lithgow SAF Museum is offering a rare opportunity to walk back in time through the historic Small Arms Factory site.

A guided tour will take you into four old production buildings, one of them the original 1912 Main Workshop where the rifles were manufactured for our WWI soldiers.

A feature of the tour is the Museum’s normally non-accessible historic machinery collection that manufactured not only rifles and machine guns, but a myriad of domestic products such as sewing machines, mix masters and shearing handsets.

This is the first time we have run these tours, although we expect them to be very popular, it is hard to know until we start taking bookings. Therefore we ask intending participants to pre-book into 2 hour time slots. As we work out how many tours we can run we will set firm start times and advise those who have booked. If you have an absolute time preference please let us know and we will do our best to accommodate.

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Lighting displays

World War II search light

Nick operating the search light

On Saturday night from 6pm, the factory buildings will come alive with special projections and light displays.

A feature of the night show will be an operational World War II search light. The beam projects thousands of metres into the sky and is likely to be seen from Bathurst to the Blue Mountains. Nick, who operates the light, is only too happy to explain how a carbon arc functions.

Projections onto the buildings will include videos of factory workers and some of the open days that were held in the Factory's heyday as a Government owned facility. You may even recognise yourself as one of the children who attended Children's Day during the 50th anniversary in 1962!

Admission to the light show is free. The Museum will also be opened on Saturday night with a program of special demonstrations on firearms. Admission to the Museum is at normal rates.

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Demonstrations

A program of demonstrations will run throughout Saturday night. Ask for demo times at the admissions counter.

Unique and unusual handguns - learn about the workings of some of the rare and unusual handguns in the Museum's collection - the cylindrical Chicago palm pistol, the rocket firing Gyrojet, the Dardick with its triangular cartridges, and the German belt buckle pistol, and others.

From flintlock to automatic - learn about the history of firearms through the progression of various igniton systems from flintlock to percussion, and through to the self-contained cartridge firearms of today. Also learn the differences between manual operation, semi-auto and automatic weapons.

Rifling a barrel - learn what rifling is and why it is needed. The various methods employed over the years at Lithgow SAF for rifling a barrel will be discussed.

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