After years of hard work, Daylesford and District Historical Society has received accreditation from the Australian Museums and Galleries Association Victoria.

A decade ago, the museum looked completely different: there were piles of objects and papers but no real systems in place.

It was around that time that Gary Lawrence started to visit the museum, housed in the former School of Mines Technical High School, to browse through the archives of local newspapers for history research.

"There was a sense that things had come to a bit of a halt and they needed a plan to straighten things out - have some goals set out to achieve and a project plan," Mr Lawrence said.

Seven years ago, after retiring, he became actively engaged with the museum. Now curator, he and a team of more than 30 dedicated volunteers have invested many gruelling hours of work to catalogue items in the collection and make the museum what it is today.

Run by volunteers, the museum, which was first established in 1964, has one of the largest collections of local history in rural Australia. Much of it has been donated by local people and descendants of early settlers.

The collection comprises archival material and photographs relevant to the history and development of the district, as well as other special historic and contemporary items - from works of an early goldfields painter, to 200 lettered cloth banners that were used for community celebrations in the '80s and '90s and a tiny model of a metal gate, fashioned by one of the students at the former school.

In a region rich with Indigenous history, the volunteers have also worked with the Dja Dja Wurrung to ensure all artefacts at the museum are listed on the Aboriginal Heritage Register, and have worked closely with them to tell under-represented stories based on objects within the museum collection.

"We're very aware that we can't tell their story," Mr Lawrence said. "We have to be guided by the Dja Dja Wurrung, so that's what we've been doing."

As part of the plan to create a space where the community can learn about the region's history, Mr Lawrence strongly believed the museum's doors needed to be opened more often.

"That's been a big part of what we've been doing - there's no point having a community museum that nobody connects with," he said.

Through this, the idea of pop-up exhibitions evolved - from a fabric exhibition to others showcasing photographs.

"By getting to know the talents and who has what in the community, we started to build a few of the exhibitions. That in turn led to other people approaching us with items of interest," he said.

The museum's exhibitions - both permanent and temporary pop-up exhibitions - reflect the region's diverse community and also respond to local events such as Reconciliation Action Week and Chill Out Festival.

At one point, volunteers spent many weeks scanning about 800 negatives from a local photographer in the 1930s and '40s. Once completed, they revealed a "fabulous story of the visitors to Hepburn, its guesthouses and that tourism story".

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One of these photographs - of two little girls outside a guest house in the 1940s - was published on Facebook to promote an upcoming exhibition.

The two sisters, now in their 80s, were tracked down and visited the exhibition, telling the volunteers about their visits to their grandmother, who ran the guesthouse. Mr Lawrence said this highlighted how history could bring people together.

The museum has also participated in the Green Museum Project, to lighten its environmental footprint, with assistance from a student from the University of Melbourne.

To become accredited, the museum spent a number of years developing procedures and policies, to meet recognised museum standards. Meeting the criteria set out by the National Standards for Museum and Galleries, Daylesford and District Historical Society joins 81 Victorian museums, galleries and collecting organisations that are accredited in Victoria.

Co-Manager of the Museum Accreditation Program at Australian Museums and Galleries Association Victoria, Caroline Wall, said the program was "delighted to recognise the many years of hard work and commitment shown by the team of volunteers" at the museum.

"Caring for our shared heritage is an important task, and by becoming Accredited the Daylesford and District Historical Society has proven to be a leading community museum in Victoria," Ms Wall said.

In future, Mr Lawrence would like to continue hosting exhibitions and also hopes to undertake further structural works on the museum building, in addition to acquiring new museum-quality display cases for the pieces in its collection.

"That'll be the culmination of all the work we've done, to be able to pull these things together and have various displays, telling our story through the museum."

Mr Lawrence said museums were a great place for to socialise and connect with others. He encouraged the state and federal governments to invest in Victoria's heritage because while there are many grants for sporting and other clubs, there are few for not-for-profit museums.

All of the volunteers are keen to get back to the museum, and welcome the community back, in a new COVID safe world.