Volunteers at Carnarvon's One Mile Jetty Museum have welcomed three new members who do not have much to say.
The new members are part of an exhibit of hyperreal mannequins in the agricultural town, around 900 kilometres north of Perth.
The mannequins are so lifelike that they have elicited a huge and varied reaction from visitors, ranging all the way from warm fondness to absolute fear.
First reactions entertaining
Museum volunteer Quentin Boyle has been thoroughly entertained by watching visitors walk up to the mannequin of local legend Winson Quan Sing and try to buy museum tickets from him.
"And it's not one or two people," Mr Boyle said.
"We had a local lady come out here a couple of weeks ago and she actually thought he had come out of his grave because it was that real."
So far no known family members of Mr Quan Sing have seen the exhibit, but Mr Boyle believed he might still have nieces and nephews scattered around the state.
"A lot of the little ones, they are just about crying to mum and dad," he said.
"We had a volunteer a few weeks ago, he was an ex-police officer, and he actually thought it felt like a dead body."
This mannequin represents the workers and volunteers who maintained One Mile Jetty. (ABC Pilbara: Rachel Hagan)
Samuel Gilbert visited the site from Secret Harbour in Perth's south and said he initially needed some reassurance after seeing the ultra-life-like mannequin of Mr Quan Sing.
"I tapped his finger, and I thought 'thank God'," Mr Gilbert said.
"I've never seen stuff like that in a museum before. It really brings some life into the museum."
Carnarvon's multicultural melting pot remembered
The Quan Sing family moved from Derby to Carnarvon in the early 1930s and transformed an old corner shop into the well-known general store that the community still speaks of today.
However, there are no remnants of the store because children set fire to it while Mr Quan Sing was in hospital in 1992.
He died later that year, and housing now sits where his shop was on the corner of Crowther Street and Olivia Terrace.
Dudley Maslen jokingly said that if Winson Quan Sing were alive today to see the mannequin he would think it complete nonsense. (ABC Pilbara: Rachel Hagan)
Today Carnarvon is a diverse community with just under half of its residents being born overseas, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Carnarvon Heritage Group chair Dudley Maslen said multiculturalism was a key pillar that helped shape the town into what it was today and why it was so important to place his friend Mr Quan Sing permanently into Carnarvon's history with a mannequin.
"I think the family would be quite chuffed because these are people who came to Australia in the pioneering days and the days of the White Australia Policy," he said.
"They met a lot of racism, and they battled on, and were great successes.
"I think it's time that we all recognise that we are all made up of a lot of different ethnic groups and they've all made great contributions."
More friends to come
Mr Quan Sing's mannequin is the only one based on a real person, with the other two a representation of the type of people in the community who helped build Carnarvon.
They are the first, but likely not the last mannequins at the One Mile Jetty Museum.
"It's been well received and we're very pleased about that," Mr Maslen said.
The exhibition is just one part of major upgrades the museum has undertaken since Cyclone Seroja tore through the town and destroyed the One Mile Jetty in 2021.
"I said 'if we're gonna do it, we're not gonna keep doing the same thing,'" he said.
Mr Maslen began visiting other rural museums for inspiration and found the Shire of Westonia had a whole community of hyperreal mannequins similar to Carnarvon's.
"They've been very helpful to us and put us onto the people who make them in Melbourne," he said.
This mannequin was made in homage to Carnarvon's horse racing history, which is almost as old as the town itself. (ABC Pilbara: Rachel Hagan)
Since then, the heritage group has turned its focus to modernising the museum and making the grounds a welcoming place for tourists to visit.
Mr Maslen said before this year the museum was making just under $10,000 a year, on average, but last year took in $70,000.
He credits this to the recently upgraded facility and hardworking volunteers.
Carnarvon Heritage Group is hoping to add further attractions at the site and firmly cement it as a tourist hotspot for the region.
