Plans for a new $50 million National Vietnam Veterans Museum will go to Bass Coast Shire this month, with an ambitious target to start construction later this year.

General manager Phil Dressing last week confirmed a planning permit was being sought for a museum, to be built on a 100-acre site opposite the current museum, with access from the Cape Woolamai roundabout.

He said a business case written last year estimated the new building – which will be about three times the current museum’s size – would cost more than the previously estimated $30 million.

“The business case found what we have here is not a nationally unique collection, but a globally unique one and we need to protect and conserve it,” said Phil, who is set to retire in November and hand the reins to a new general manager.

“We can only do that effectively and efficiently if we start again.”

According to the designs by Architectus, the building will be incorporated into the landscape, feature a three-acre display hall, retail, café, classroom and function room able to seat 200 people, as well as a conservation area and library.

The 100 acres extends to the intersection of Churchill and Phillip Island Roads and was purchased in 2019 for $2.6 million – paid from a Federal Government grant – after a long search for a new site to house the museum’s expanding collection.

Growing

Phil said they had outgrown their current one-acre site, with their Caribou plane, car park and spare parts area housed on land kindly on loan from Phillip Island Helicopters.

“We are getting more and more items and we have little space to store, conserve and display them. There’s a Hercules forward section at Pt Cook that we want to relocate and display but it’s 5m x 4m.”

He said the museum was becoming increasingly popular, with more than a 20 per cent increase in visitation this summer.

The current museum site will be retained as a service site.

“But we would be open to selling if someone comes along who wants to buy it.”

Funding

Phil said he was confident construction could start later in the year despite the funding yet to be secured.

He said they were hoping the Victorian Government would provide $10 million in the May budget, with a letter requesting funds sent to Premier Daniel Andrews last month, accompanied by letters of support.

State Government Veterans Minister Shaun Leane last month visited the museum, later commenting in Parliament he was “looking for ways that maybe we can support them further”.

“They have got big aspirations to move the museum to a location across the road and I am seeing what we can do to help them fulfil that aspiration,” Mr Leane said.

“It is the biggest Vietnam museum in the world – there is even not a bigger one in America surprisingly.”

The museum will approach all the states and territories, as well as philanthropic organisations and individuals in a bid to raise funds.

“Our search will be global, any of the allies who were involved in the Vietnam War. We don’t believe it’s overly-ambitious to say we’ll be sticking a shovel in the earth later this year.

“Ideally we would like to start building within five months after receiving planning approval. But that is predicated on funding. If we can’t get support then the cost will be bigger and the timeline will be extended.”

Background

Phil said the expansion was in line with the “National Vietnam Museum Masterplan 2025” adopted by the museum board in 2014, adding Phillip Island was considered “the spiritual home” for Vietnam veterans.

“The decision was made to initially look for land on the island, then go within Bass Coast Shire if need be,” he explained.

“There were caveats – we needed main road frontage and enough land for future expansion.”

After receiving the Federal Government funding in 2019, the museum looked at more than 12 different sites in their search for a suitable location.

In the short-term, residents and visitors will not see any changes to the existing museum, however it is hoped a mural will soon be added to a shed on the new land declaring it as the new home of the National Vietnam Veterans Museum.

Phil paid tribute to the tireless work and dedication of volunteers, with the museum started in the garage of veteran John and Krishna Methven’s San Remo home, transformed into a world-class museum.