The Horse and Carriage Museum in Yeppoon, Central Queensland, Australia | Museum | Heritage Museum

See Queensland's largest collection of Horse Drawn vehicles on public display at The Horse and Carriage Museum in Yeppoon in Australia.

The Horse and Carriage Museum houses 56 vehicles including a Landeau Carriage, Hansom Cab, Hearse, Cobb & Co Coach, and Austrian one horse open sleigh and wool wagon. 24 Restored farming implements, a full set of Condamine bells and camp ovens plus blacksmith and saddler's shops and early Australian memorabilia and photographs.

The collection is a lifetime of being involved with horses and carts for John Millroy at The Horse and Carriage Museum inYeppoon, Queensland. He started off his working life at the age of 15, driving a horse and cart around Rockhampton, operating a garden manure delivery service. He started seriously collecting the vehicles 12 years ago, and that turned into more of a passion than a hobby as time went on.

His quest for more vehicles saw him travel all over Queensland and even down to Victoria, attending various clearing sales and visiting private sellers. Some of his vehicles are from as far away as Ireland, England and Austria.

John had his vehicles stored in three different sheds around Yeppoon and as most of the carts never saw the light of day he was inspired to present his collection to the public.

John, assisted by Brian Fuller, restored all but eight of the collection.

The collection at The Horse and Carriage Museum in Yeppoon is impressive just for the quality of the vehicles, but there is so much more to feast your eyes on. A variety of information and memorabilia accompanies the vehicles, including more than 50 photographs from the John Oxley Library, a full set of camp ovens and Condamine bells, and a samurai saddle from the 16th century.

"There is nothing else like it in Queensland," John said.
His collection includes the first trotting sulky ever used, a fully restored wool wagon, a Cobb and Co coach and a bullock logging wagon complete with chains and yokes for 24 bullocks.

One item John spent years searching for ? a Hansom cab ? is also on display. This very rare vehicle is one of a few that are on display in Australia and is on loan to the collection
Over seventy three exhibits in all greet those who go through the doors, but be prepared to spend a bit of time there - as you get drawn back down memory lane. John said most people couldn't believe what was there, and that the average person took about two hours to go through the collection as they reminisced.