The Friends of Orange Regional Museum (FORM) met on Tuesday night to elect its officer bearers and former member for Orange Garry West was elected president unopposed.

However, councillor Neil Jones, who chaired the interim board, voiced concerns about the ongoing use of the lobby.

“I’ll be quite blunt, I think this space has been hijacked totally by the visitors centre and … it seems to me there’s a real lost opportunity in relation to this space – it was always intended that this was a space that could be used to add value to the permanent exhibition,” he said.

“I hope the new committee can perhaps work to perhaps change some attitudes towards this.”

Orange Regional Museum and Gallery director Brad Hammond spoke about the 618 artefacts the museum had curated since it opened, 88 of them this year.

“Storage is a tricky one because really we have this fantastic new facility and very little storage,” he said.

“We really need a lot of space.”

Mr Hammond hoped funding could be secured for an off-site, purpose-built facility, as well as a movable wall system to enable the museum to host multiple exhibitions at once.

He spoke about coming exhibitions, including a Chinese history extension to the current Journeys exhibition, to open later this month.

Among the items will be an opium tin formerly the property of a Chinese gold miner.

Mr Hammond said a Paddock to Plate exhibition would open in time for FOOD Week next year and a display of bonnets would be hosted as part of Roses of the Heart by Christina Henri to commemorate female convicts.

The exhibition comes with the opportunity for people to make and dedicate their own bonnets.

“What a great project for community engagement,” he said.

Mr West said the museum needed a community-based friends group.

“That’s what we have and that will give us a tremendous step forward,” he said.

“This isn’t just Orange – we have to ensure that we fulfil the goal of making a regional museum.”

He also commended Orange and District Historical Society for its lobbying and Orange City Council for taking the project on.

“I can remember when the chambers were first built many many years ago by a former mayor of this city, Fred Dobbin,” he said.

“It caused such a furore the next council elections that council was thrown out ... but look at what we have now.”