The Belmont Museum is committed to conserving our area’s local history. To date, some of our conservation projects have included cleaning and repairing 100-year-old toys, treating wooden convict road blocks and re-homing beloved photographs. 

Here are some of our latest conservation projects. Visit the Museum to see some of our finished conservation projects on display.

Restoring a Chinese Conical Hat, c19th Century

The Belmont Museum’s hand-woven conical hat is very typical of the style worn by Chinese market gardeners in the 19th century. 

When it was found, the hat was covered with layers of dirt accumulated over many decades, and the fragile cone at the top of the hat had broken away. 

Our conservator gently dusted the hat with a natural soft bristle brush to remove dust and loose dirt and re-attached the cone. She created a special purpose-built mount for the hat using jersey knitted cotton fabric, a beech wood plinth and ethafoam supports. 

Visit the Belmont Museum to see the final result, displayed with some poignant stories of Belmont’s early Chinese market gardeners.