Obtaining the Heritage House building itself was an early example of creative recycling. A former Brunswick Heads brothel, the business had fallen on hard times, and – the story goes – owed Byron Shire Council a decent amount of back rates. An enterprising Bangalow local, Betty Dengate, offered Council’s General Manager of the day a way out of a tricky situation. Bangalow’s Historical Society had a mountain of historical documents and items going mouldy in members’ garages, while the old brothel was lying empty. Why not relocate the building to Council-owned parkland in the heart of Bangalow and use it to house a museum for Bangalow?
