Glen Innes: Art, History and Special Discoveries

Glen Innes offers a range of ways to shape your trip: changing art exhibitions, a Heritage Walk with a set route, a museum with extensive collections, and events held at recurring times. When choosing your holiday rental, consider whether you want to focus your stay on art and history or plan it around one of the event weekends.

Discover art and local history

The Glen Innes Art Gallery presents changing exhibitions of contemporary art, ceramics, sculptures and jewellery. The changing displays and variety of works offer different ways to engage with art: you might be interested in sculptures, for example, or focus on ceramics and jewellery. The gallery complements Glen Innes’ historical themes with contemporary art.

The Land of the Beardies Museum is housed in the former Glen Innes Hospital, which dates back to 1877. Its collections include 13,000 photographs, maps and books, as well as more than 300,000 documents. Photographs and maps, books and other documents offer different ways to explore the subjects collected by the museum. Those interested in history will find a different focus here than at an art exhibition or on a walk past buildings.

The museum grounds also feature examples of early agricultural machinery. These provide a distinct connection to agriculture and complement the photographs, maps, books and documents with examples of actual machinery. The museum’s surroundings thus encompass both extensive documentary collections and evidence of earlier agricultural technology.

The Australian Standing Stones are located near Glen Innes. They were created in 1991/92 and are a national monument to the Celtic people of the past and present. This offers a way to explore the connection to Celtic culture outside the annual festival dates too. When planning your trip, it makes sense to consider this visit as a separate point of interest alongside the gallery, museum and Heritage Walk.

Plan the Glen Innes Heritage Walk

The Glen Innes Heritage Walk follows a 5.4-kilometre route past 63 buildings and takes about two hours. The length, number of buildings and stated walking time give you concrete information to help fit the walk into your stay. If you include the route in your day’s plans, allow about two hours and take the 5.4 kilometres into account.

A brochure for the Glen Innes Heritage Walk is available from the Glen Innes Visitor Information Centre or can be downloaded. This lets you find out about the walk in advance and decide whether it suits your stay. The walk offers a different way to explore Glen Innes than the exhibitions and collections at the museum or gallery.

Annual events and a local break

The Australian Celtic Festival takes place every year over four days in the first week of May. The Minerama Fossicking, Gem & Jewellery Show is held every year on the second weekend in March at the Glen Innes Showground. It attracts thousands of visitors and traders from across Australia. The two events have different focuses: the Celtic Festival provides a reason to travel in the first week of May, while Minerama is associated with fossicking, gemstones and jewellery. If one of the festivals is the deciding factor for you, you can use its dates as a starting point for planning your holiday.

Crofters Cottage, a café serving coffee, homemade cake, breakfast and lunch, is located near Glen Innes. The café offers another opportunity to take a break over a meal or coffee and cake. Along with the gallery, museum, walk and annual events, it adds to the range of interests you can pursue during your stay.

When looking for a holiday rental in Glen Innes, you can first decide which of these experiences matter most to you: contemporary art, the collections at the Land of the Beardies Museum, the 5.4-kilometre Heritage Walk or a stay timed around one of the annual events. This lets you choose a destination that suits your interests without trying to squeeze every offering into a single itinerary.

For the broader travel overview: Glen Innes Severn Shire Council.