About LSAFM

The Lithgow Small Arms Factory Museum (LSAFM) was opened in 1996. It exists to preserve and celebrate the history of the world renowned Lithgow Small Arms Factory – the first high precision manufacturing facility in Australia.

The museum occupies two former buildings of the original Factory Site – the Administration building (1963), and the General Machine Shop (1923). Other early buildings of the Factory remain, providing a nostalgic and alluring backdrop for the museum.

LSAFM attracts visitors from all over Australia and overseas. It is recognised worldwide as a unique firearms collection and research centre. It is possibly the only museum of its type in the world situated on the original factory site.

The massive firearms collection includes examples made at Lithgow and many other countries. The miriad of ‘commercial’ items that sustained the Factory’s lifeblood between periods of arms production show the versatility of ‘The Factory’ and the finest of Australian manufacturing.

Bringing our historic machinery to life in the General Machine Shop is our latest challenging but worthwhile project, giving visitors an insight into an early 20th century working factory floor, where the machines and their operators were the beating heart of the factory.

We created this blog mainly to help other museums who are struggling with the complexities of handling firearms collections and legislation.

In a world where anti-firearms sentiment is at an all-time high with Governments, it is especially important that we fight to keep museum collections whole for future generations to study and enjoy.