Museum tracks SW dairy links

The Margaret River Districts and Historical Society has opened the 1920s Group Settlement house to the public for the first time in years.

The old settlement building house opened as a museum on Anzac Day and can be viewed on Tuesdays, Thursdays and at weekends.

Historical society secretary Jan Matthews said the building was abandoned before the group took over its lease.

"The artefacts and building were just all left to rot," she said.

Mrs Matthews said the building was one of the earliest in Margaret River and a relic of the town's early dairy industry. "There's so little history left in the town," she said.

"Anything to do with history in the town is to be valued."

Mrs Matthews said the society hoped to restore old settlement machinery and dairy industry relics.

"We're hoping to engage as many old farmers as possible," she said.

Mrs Matthews said the idea was for farmers to "adopt a piece of machinery each and bring it back to what it might have been".