Celebrate Albany
About AHS
We are dedicated to preserving, protecting and promoting our rich and diverse history.
Welcome to the Albany Historical Society
Founded in 1962, the Albany Historical Society are dedicated to preserving, protecting and promoting the rich and diverse history of Albany (Kinjarling). We are a not for profit organisation, staffed entirely by volunteers.
Through our work, we aim to raise awareness, understanding and commitment to Albany's significant cultural heritage, as the first British colonial and Aboriginal settlement of Western Australia. We do this through evaluation, interpretation and promotion of cultural heritage significance and through the establishments we manage.
We are proud to be recognise as an advocate in the conservation and promotion of Albany’s cultural heritage and historic landmarks. We're active in the defence of historic buildings and social heritage, and in advocating for the preservation of heritage sites in the face of inappropriate development.
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AHS consists of eight committee members; Jason Howard - President, Jon Price - Vice President, Andrew Eyden - Secretary, Grant Peake - Treasurer and Margaret Stevens, Linda Piccoli, Baily Ripley and Tom Bird. We recognise that our goals can only be realised through the collective efforts of a dedicated committee and a team of volunteers.
OUR CEO
Andrew Eyden
Andrew began working as a volunteer for the Albany Historical Society in 2002 as an attendant at the Albany Convict Gaol. Andrew grew up in the tourism sector with his family owning and operating a specialist boutique hotel as well as farming. ‘As a child I was always aware of the importance of history. It formed the foundation stone of my family’s business as did the importance of customer service. I also learned that in order to become successful you need a happy team as you are dependent on the people within your organisation. Looking back, it was inevitable that I would choose to follow a similar path’. In 2007, Andrew was appointed the first CEO of the AHS. ‘We had grown to the point that our organisation needed hands on day to day management, a monthly committee meeting was no longer able to serve our operations for a sustained future’. One of Andrew’s first priorities was to create departments within the society that concentrated on specific needs. These departments today are administration, museums, volunteers, collections and maintenance. Over the years, Andrew has been privileged to have worked alongside some incredible individuals. To see the commitment our people have to Albany, is humbling and inspiring. Remembering that none of our people, receives a wage and to think we operate in excess of 10,000 hours annually with our museums open 363 days a year, all with voluntary labour, it is a privilege to be part of that team. Albany, with its historical significance to its indigenous sons and daughters and later European settlers, along with all of us today, has made and continues to makes the city and district such a rich repository of cultural, built and social history. It truly forms the backbone of who and what we are as West Australians.