The National Vietnam Veterans Museum (NVVM) is Australia’s only museum dedicated to preserving and sharing the experience of Vietnam War Veterans and the legacy of the war.
The Current Museum houses artefacts, memorabilia and exhibits collected over 30 years from returned service men, women and their families.
Recognising the limitations of the current site, in 2019 NVVM purchased the new site at 24 Churchill Road, directly opposite the current museum.
The new site presents an excellent strategic location that will be an important community project enhancing visitor facilities on Phillip Island whilst providing a significant role in providing diverse, educational and culturally important collection of the NVVM.
The Surrounding parkland estate and outdoor museum space potentially could see 40% of visitors above the age of 15YO utilising the open space and at the same time will be a place for locals within the Bass Coast region. There will be a direct increase of visitor satisfaction to Phillip Island’s recreational offering, whilst enhancing private/public land values of Bass Coasts natural environment.
Further economic benefits from the construction of the new home for the NVVM and parklands will be the improved visitor experience which will result in tourism benefits for the local economy and the State.
Increased visitation, length of stay and yields from the new construction may contribute to stimulating further investment in accommodation facilities around Phillip Island. The flow on will see increased yield per visitor, increased interstate and international visitors to Victoria further increasing visitation to the Gippsland area.
The new build will meet today’s OHS standards and careful consideration will be given to accessibility for the one in five Australians that have a disability as well as their friends, relations, and colleagues. This is a significant group of consumers and providing opportunity for them to visit a world class site is common sense.
The new build investment assists to diversify the regions market mix to promote year-round visitation opportunities, alleviate non-peak visitation troughs and promote dispersal.
The project development provides a high-quality built form outcome which is sympathetic to the surrounding natural environment.
It will attract a wide range of visitors, including servicemen, women and their families, school groups, passing visitors from interstate and abroad and the local community. It incorporates expansive exhibition spaces to house larger exhibits within the NVVM’s collection and will also include spaces for education, collaboration and discussion. The NVVM seeks to provide a place to bring the community together whilst paying tribute to the experience of the veterans that served in the Vietnam war and more broadly all ADF personnel including all current serving members.
The building comprises these core function spaces, visitor services, exhibition space, and support spaces. This will include the main museum exhibition room, conservation area, general administration service area, museum shop, restaurant (café) and community educational facilities.
The build itself adopts a well-articulated environmentally sustainable design. It is embedded in its landscape setting through its integrated landscape-driven approach including a green roof and canopy over the entry and a series of landscaped spaces surrounding the main building.
The museum’s aim is to deliver a space that is responsive to Phillip Islands’ ecotourism goals. Its layout is shaped by existing landscape features to ensure the site remains connected visually and spatially to the coast and the wider landscape of the area.
The objectives of both the build and landscapes is to:
It should be noted that landscape areas will be accessible to the public without the need to purchase a ticket for museum entry.
25 Veterans Drive, Newhaven, Phillip Island VIC 3925