Geraldeen Walker, Barbara Hinnrichsen and Keith Paterson are locals who said their love for the museum began years before.

“Alan [Clark] is a blow-in,” Ms Walker said.

Ms Walker said, for her, the intrigue kick-started her love for archiving when she listened to her grandparents as they remembered “early Nowra”.

“I started volunteering about 15 years ago. I love dealing with objects and finding out their story and working to preserve that for the next generation,” she said.

“My husband and I look after the photos. I love shots of the river and parades. Looking at what people used to wear, the bunting, kids, dogs and just observing what they were doing at the time is like venturing inside a time capsule.”

Ms Walker said working at the museum was never dull.

“It takes a lot of time and care going through and archiving everything, but we all love it.”

Ms Hinnrichsen said her volunteer work began in the 1970s.

“I wanted to know more about the town and, you know, when I started I found out I had relatives just a hop, skip and jump away from me in Cambewarra,” she said.

“I’m at the end of the photo processing line where I index everything so hopefully people can find images when they want to.

“In terms of the museum, this is the best it’s ever been. There have been times when they had to scrimp and scrape to survive, but a lot more people come here to research now and bring items to us more regularly.”

Ms Hinnrichsen said technology played a huge role in this.

“People were more reluctant to bring in their photos because it would take so much time to copy them. Now we can scan pictures and give them back on the same day,” she said.

“We have thousands of photos now.

“My favourite is the picture of the women with a horse standing on Hanging Rock at Nowra Showground overlooking the river.”

Mr Clark joined in 1976 and while he said he was never very hands-on with objects, he revelled in researching them.

“If an artefact comes in and I might be able to find out the story that goes along with it I enjoy that,” he said.

“When this picture of the coach from the 1890s came in I went through a lot of newspapers and eventually found an article about the man who drove it when he retired. 

“He would travel backwards and forwards over the mountain to deliver the mail from Nowra all the way to Moss Vale.

“I spend a lot of time at the library.”

Mr Clark said volunteering at the museum ignited his passion for the history of the Waratah Recruitment March.

“I have written a book about it and I have another one coming out later this year for the centenary,” he said.

“I’m also working on another book about pubs in the district that will come out in June.”

“Everyone loves the pubs,” Ms Walker said.

“It’s also amazing how many people visit the museum who have a story about them, a relative or a friend who had been in the lockup back when it was an overnight jail.”

Mr Paterson has also been a member since the 1970s.

“I spend a lot of time processing items like this Nowra Culburra Surf Life Saving Club book from 1954. I go through books like this and photocopy and scan everything for our records,” he said.

“I really enjoy the company and we have made a lot of changes and collected a lot of information over the years we never had before.”

In 2010 Mr Paterson won the Bill Whittaker literary prize for his locally inspired history of the turf book, The Master’s Touch: Racing with Etienne de Mestre Winner of Five Melbourne Cups.

“He trained Archer, who won Melbourne Cup twice, and many others where Terrara House now stands,” Mr Paterson said.

“Most of what you hear about Archer is that he walked from Nowra to Melbourne but he didn’t. The records show he travelled via steamboat.

“The story all started in the 1960s when it was the centenary of the Melbourne Cup and a Melbourne journalist wrote that and it has just stuck ever since.”

Mr Paterson is now working on a book about Shoalhaven soldiers involved in the Boer War.