The Broome Historical Society Museum is housed in a building built in the late 1890s as a shop. From 1910 to 1979 the building housed the Customs House, and today it is one of Australia's finest regional museums, existing thanks to volunteers.
Almost immediately after construction, Newman Goldstein & Co's general shop opened in the building. It contained everything needed for the company's fleet of 22 lugger sailing vessels, 2 schooners and a steam boat. The shop was also an important trading enterprise, supplying pearl fishermen and buying up pearls produced by other flotillas.
In 1904 the building that then housed the Customs House was destroyed by termites and, despite public protests, the government office moved into the shop building in 1910. In 1979, Broomshire County Council purchased the building for a future museum, which opened in 1981.
Today, the museum houses several displays introducing the history of the pearling industry, Aboriginal culture in Western Australia, the One Day War, Broome life and a collection of memorabilia.
