On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the volunteers and committee members will host morning tea at the centre from 10.30am.

The celebrations aren’t restricted to cake and a cuppa, volunteers have broken out a few hidden gems from storage to showcase part of Cootamundra’s heritage.

Yvonne Forsyth was one of the founding members of the heritage centre and said a lot of the kind donations received in the early years hadn’t gone on display before.

“There are still people in Cootamundra who haven’t visited yet,” Mrs Forsyth said.

“I’ve always said, a town which doesn’t respect its past, has no future.”

Mrs Forsyth said there were more than few hidden stories kept within the walls of the centre which could learn about.

Volunteers from the heritage centre also work as the Cootamundra Visitor Centre.

“People are interested in our history and what’s around us,” she said.

Visitors came around Australia, sometimes because their family came from Cootamundra, or they worked at one at Conkeys, or GM Scott, the railways or even at the aero observer school. Mrs Forsyth said it was great to be able to celebrate 17 years of operation.

“I didn’t think we’d even get off the ground, we had a grant from the Centenary of Australia and had a lot of help from the community,” she said.

She said Bev Dwyer, known as Mrs Bradman, because of her involvement in Bradman’s Birthplace and then president of the Historical Society Betti Punnett were instrumental in helping.