REBUILDING the giant army museum at Bandiana to allow tourists to visit it more easily is on the far horizon, a past manager of the site says.
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Retired army major and Albury councillor Graham Docksey was speaking after Wodonga council election candidate Joseph Thomsen expressed concern at the inaccessibility of the museum at the Bandiana army base.
Mr Thomsen has raised the idea of Wodonga Council taking over the land on which the museum sits to remove the need for visitors to have to book ahead.
"That would be the aim, to make it more accessible so you can just turn up and go in," Mr Thomsen said.
"It would probably be simpler and easier all round if it was put on non-defence land, then the accessibility and security issues don't exist in the same way."
In 2014, the Defence Department stopped allowing entry to casual visitors in response to terrorism concerns.
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It means patrons now have to phone at least 24 hours ahead of their visit, although COVID has closed the museum for most of this year.
Mr Thomsen believes the showcase of military items, representing various army corps, deserves more focus.
"It's probably the most readymade tourist drawcard here that's not being used to its full potential," he said.
"Even people that don't have an inherent interest in military items have been really amazed at it and asked 'why isn't this promoted more?'."
Mr Docksey said because the museum's assets belonged to the Commonwealth they needed to remain on Defence Department land.
"I understand what he says and support that but the long term plan they're pursuing is for there to be a rebuild and better public access," Mr Docksey said.
He said it was envisaged a new museum would be built closer to the Murray Valley Highway boundary of the base and an access point in the vicinity of the army cinema which fronts that road.
The existing museum is set back from the highway and its land is tied to other parts of the base which would make it difficult to excise.
"It's a great asset, it's under utilised but there are restrictions because it's defence land," Mr Docksey said.
"This argument is not new, it's been brought up before because it's probably Wodonga's best tourist asset that is under utilised."
The museum was created in 1972 and has been largely housed in a 5000 square metre warehouse since 1976.
The inventory has grown over the decades with other collections added from within the army and through private holdings.
More than 100 vehicles, ranging from horse drawn artillery to tanks, are in the museum.
There are also a host of uniforms, weaponry and relics from war.
