Museum
Cyril Callister museum
Located in Beaufort, victoria
Find the Cyril Callister Museum at servo@23, an old petrol station which has been repurposed as a community arts, events and creative co-working space
Address: 23 Neill St, Beaufort
Open Thursday to Sunday 11am to 2pm.
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The Cyril Callister museum is passionately managed by a team of local volunteers. When you visit the museum you will be greeted by one of these lovely local’s and explained abit about how the museum came to be, about the memorabilia collection, the retail merchandise selection including an ever increasing local artisan range of private label Vegemite inspired gifts and treats. If you would like to donate something to our memorabilia collection please email us on info@cyrilcallisterfoundation.org we would be grateful to receive your donation and your name will be mentioned on the item on display.
Whilst the museum entry is currently free, we would greatly appreciate a few gold coins to add to the donation box – these monies are for the annual Cyril Callister science scholarship – this year 2024 it will be at Federation University to a selected regional applicant. If you would like to donate to the scholarship fund there is also a link on our website.
Travel back in time
The Cyril Callister Museum makes its home in Beaufort, a heritage town close to nearby Chute where Cyril Callister, the man who invented Vegemite, and his siblings were raised.
Beaufort, home to the Wadawurung, Dja Dja Wurrung, Eastern Maar and Wotjobaluk people was settled by timber getters and, later, sheep farmers.
Located at the gateway to the Victorian gold fields, Beaufort is about 2.5 hours drive northwest of Melbourne. It is part of the Pyrenees Shire, renowned for its wineries and farm to gate food trail.
The Cyril Callister Museum educates locals and visitors about the life, work and legacy of Cyril Callister. It celebrates all things Vegemite and hosts tours, speakers and events with a portion of the proceeds returned to the Cyril Callister Foundation scholarship program.
See heritage photographs and memorabilia like a Vegemite tin issued in WWII army rations to Australian soldiers or a Vegemite jar issued in Mothercraft gift packs given to all new mums at Tweddle Baby Hospital, Footscray, in the 1950s. View old television footage and sing along to the Happy Little Vegemites jingle.
Beaufort at the Yam-diggings, Fiery Creek district, Parish of Beaufort, Country of Ripon. 1858.
Creator: Victoria Public Lands Office. Credit: State Library of Victoria.
Testimonials
For an authentic and engaging tour, we highly recommend the Cyril Callister Museum in Beaufort (known to many simply as the Vegemite Museum).
It is small in dimension, but the information and enjoyment are top notch.
100% ideal for all abilities access as well, and easy on street parking for coaches add to the bonuses here.
– Tour Local – Pakenham – Victoria.
Together we inspire had the pleasure of visiting the Cyril Callister Foundation in Beaufort.
Together we inspire is a disability provider located in Ballarat. When we visited the museum, we were greeted with a warm welcome. Liza was fantastic with the group and accommodating our needs.
The Cyril Callister Museum offers something for everyone to enjoy.
It was great to learn about the history of Vegemite and of course painting with Vegemite was a highlight.
Thank you for having us, we would love to return in the future.
– Harriet Pickersgill
Co-Director, Together we inspire
Thank you for being the guest speaker at the General meeting of the Ballarat North Probus Club.
Our members were enthralled by your story and greatly admire your drive and determination to achieve your dream of a museum honouring Cyril Callister, the man who invented Vegemite.
You have certainly put your heart and soul into providing Beaufort and the Shire of Ripon with an extremely interesting and educational experience for all visitors to this museum.
What was an ingenious idea of Cyril’s to use the waste product left after the brewing of beer, has now been a household institution for the past 100 years and this is certainly a reason for celebration. Our members have expressed a great desire to visit the museum either privately or as an organised outing for the club, and we look forward to this experience.
The members wish you continued success and may the prospect of further financial assistance become a reality through grants or generous benefactors.
– Wendy Hall
Secretary, Probus Club of North Ballarat.
The Sporting Motorists Association wish to sincerely thank you very much for opening especially for our small group.
We did not realise the history of Vegemite was so close in our own backyard.
Many of us listened to “Macca- Australia all Over” – on the ABC radio, the week prior, and heard about the Museum in Beaufort.
We all learnt a lot from the very informative video spoken by Cyril’s grandson Jamie McCallister.
All of us are the vintage that grew up with Vegemite and still love it.
Here are a few comments from our group
- Most school days I had Vegemite and cheese sandwiches for lunch.
- So often we do not value the treasures in our own backyard. As “Happy Little Vegemite’s” ourselves, we were surprised how little we knew of the whole story.
- Fascinating, well worth the visit!!
- We really enjoyed the history about the family and how the product evolved. The display and ambiance in the Museum was very welcoming, and of course, we all loved the tea/coffee and the Oreo/Vegemite yo up’s. Delicious!!
- Well done, so far !!
- Loved the sepia water colour paintings, all tones done using Vegemite as the base of the colourings.
- I still love Vegemite on hot buttered toast!!
I wish to say Thank You once again – we will “Spread the Word”.
– Margaret Clifford
President, Sporting Motorists Association.
Vegemite pies
Vegemite Pies are available at the museum Friday to Sunday 10am to 2pm.
Drop in and try one today.
Memorabilia Club
The Cyril Callister Museum is home to the Cyril Callister Memorabilia Club, which meets once a year. Fans can buy, swap, and sell Vegemite collectibles and share stories about the iconic food spread.
cyril's lab
Cyril’s Lab recreates the laboratory where Dr Callister and his team invented the iconic spread in 1923. Here, small student groups from Year 5 and up will perform interactive science experiments using Vegemite.
Cyril’s lab helps to spread the story of Dr Callister and his invention and inspire young people to study science and history.
The foundation’s inaugural scholarship winner Samuel Varjabedian, a science student from Federation University, Ballarat adapted Vegemite inspired experiments for use at Cyril’s Lab.
Learn about Dr Callister and Vegemite history, see memorabilia, collectables and outdoor and indoor art inspired by Vegemite and painted by local artists and students. Try painting with Vegemite or leave that to the kids while you taste Vegemite inspired sweets and baked treats.
gallery
Beaufort in Vegemite
In the art side of the museum there is a wonderful art exhibition created by Beaufort Secondary College – they sketched the historical buildings around Beaufort and then painted them in Vegemite.
A collaborative project between the Secondary College, the Pyrenees Art’s Council and the museum is underway to create a book of these wonderful art pieces and a range of postcards.
Also in the craft area is one of our exclusive colouring sheets or if you like you can do some painting with Vegemite.
Social Media
The museum loves being tagged on your social media (Tik Tok, Instagram, Facebook) our handle is #CyrilCallisterMuseum.
We would appreciate any reviews on your socials or tourism platforms like google business, trip advisor or Atlas Obscura all these posts help us to widen our followers and visitors to the museum.
We are happy to take photos of you using our locally painted “Selfie Boards” or you can create a video “ Tell Cyril your Vegemite Story” in our video booth which is uploaded to our Youtube channel, a consent form needs to be signed for this.
Groups & Tours
If you are planning a special trip to the museum, we would highly recommend you book at tour.
Our tour includes a meet and greet and introduction to the musuem, a morning or afternoon tea of a locally baked Chocolate Vegemite Oreo and a cuppa, followed by a viewing of the 25 minute story of Cyril Callister narrated by his grandson Jamie Callister.
These tours are thoroughly enjoyable and cost $18 per person which contributes to our scholarship fund.
Volunteer with us
We love Volunteers!
We have opportunities to volunteer in many different roles including front of house, customer relations, social media, database entry, cleaning, curating, merchandising displays, grant writing or company secretary.
A lot of these roles are part time and can be done from home.
Please contact Liza Robinson on 0414 082 754 for more details.