To: Our current landlord, Thales Australia, and Relevant Government Leaders

From: Supporters of Lithgow Small Arms Factory Museum

We thank Thales Australia for recognising the museum’s significance to Australia’s industrial, cultural and defence heritage and expressing their commitment to working with the museum to secure our future.

Following a break-in in August 2024, urgent security upgrades, ordered by NSW Police, have been stalled for four months, to date, due to multinational red tape. This has incurred a cost of $5000 per week for night security guards. The museum remains closed, financially strained, and volunteers are unable to move forward.

The Problem:

Thales issued a draft contract in 2022, to sell the museum its integral heritage site for a nominal price. This has now been downgraded to an offer of a long-term lease, retaining the obstructive approval process for all works, and disturbingly, the right to evict the museum and repurpose or demolish the buildings. The current expert volunteers want to rebuild the museum and secure its future by transitioning to salaried staff. The autonomy of site ownership, as promised by Thales, is critical to this aim. The insecure tenure provided by a lease makes future growth, succession, and preservation plans impossible.

Without immediate action, Australia will lose a highly significant cultural asset and an irreplaceable part of its industrial heritage.

Why this matters:

Dedication and Investment: Volunteers have invested over 300,000 hours and $3.8 million worth of funds to improve and maintain the site over decades.

National & Global Significance: The museum preserves the birthplace of precision manufacturing in Australia, including an internationally respected collection of historic firearms, industrial machinery spanning the late 1800s to the 20th century, UNESCO-listed archives, and the critical stories of Lithgow’s workforce and Australian working life. Together, these artefacts and their original factory site showcase Australia’s industrial innovation and engineering legacy.

Cultural & Economic Value: The museum attracts thousands of visitors annually, contributing to the region’s economy and tourism, while fostering pride in Australia’s industrial heritage. This value will grow significantly as the museum moves forward with its exciting plans for the future.

We Urgently Call on Thales to:

• Approve critical security upgrades immediately to protect the Museum’s collection, as ordered by NSW Police.
• Reimburse the museum for costs and losses incurred by delays.
• Honour the 2022 agreement to transfer ownership of the site to the Museum, allowing it to operate autonomously and secure its future.

The Vision:

Ownership would unlock exciting plans including the creation of a dedicated Australian Firearms History Centre for research and special interest, a café and community venue, expanded visitor experiences, with paid museum staff to secure its long-term sustainability.

This is an opportunity for Thales to contribute to the preservation of the invaluable history behind its current renown for quality manufacturing.

Cooperating will mutually benefit Thales, the city of Lithgow and the Small Arms Factory Museum.