A COLLECTIONS facility being built in South Bathurst will have the equipment it needs from day one thanks to a new injection of funding.
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Plans for the Central Tablelands Collections Facility were announced in 2019 and work got under way on it earlier this year, though a wet winter in Bathurst is making progress more difficult.
The construction of the facility is being funded by $2.3 million each from Bathurst Regional Council and the NSW Government.
To that tally has now been added just under $100,000 from the NSW Office of Responsible Gambling Club Grants.
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It seems a small amount considering the $4.6m already allocated to the project, but Central Tablelands Collections Facility project co-ordinator Tim Pike said it would make an enormous difference.
"It will be used for the fitout and to make sure that whatever we do inside, we've got good quality gear," he said.
Mr Pike said the new facility will be used to house objects from the city's various museums that are not able to be put on display at those venues.
That will include photographs, and cars, from the National Motor Racing Museum and artworks from Bathurst Regional Art Gallery.
"It [the Collections Facility] will be a pest-free, secure, industry-standard facility," he said.
It will be a pest-free, secure, industry-standard facility.
It will also have space for conservation treatment work, digitising work and workshops and training, he said.
'We're going to need things like nitrogen generators - that's a key device for pest treatment," he said.
Dust extractors will be needed when work is done on fossil specimens, he said, and "to run the workshops, we're going to need smart boards".
"There's a really basic thing: to get objects in and out, we need forklifts and trolleys."
Mr Pike said the timeline at the moment is for the facility to be open and operating in the first half of next year.
Mayor Ian North and state Member for Bathurst Paul Toole both had a look at the site on Thursday morning.
Mr Toole has previously described the facility as a place to "preserve precious artworks and historically significant pieces for future generations to enjoy".
The Club Grants scheme puts part of clubs' gaming machine profits into community projects.
