Communities Minister commends engineering heritage at museum visits

Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has visited the Ulster Folk Museum and the Ulster Transport Museum. As part of the visits, Minister Lyons viewed the latest exhibit in the impressive transport collection.  

Completed in 1933, the Ferguson Black Tractor has taken pride of place in the Museum of Innovation exhibition at the Ulster Transport Museum, which showcases the engineering feats of Northern Ireland’s best and brightest innovators. 

Following the visit, Minister Lyons said the iconic Ferguson Black Tractor shows that Northern Ireland is a global engineering force. Minister Lyons said:

“The Museum of Innovation exhibition at the Ulster Transport Museum exemplifies the creative engineering heritage we have here in Northern Ireland, and Harry Ferguson’s Black Tractor is a fantastic addition to the exhibition. The Black Tractor is arguably one of the most important ever built, revolutionising agricultural methods across the world and influencing engineering design techniques used today. It is impressive to see this pioneering machine at the Ulster Transport Museum and I hope it will provide added inspiration to future generations of STEM students.” 

Minister Lyons also learnt about the new educational language trail, Rhymin Rab’s Ramble at the Ulster Folk Museum, an addition to the museum's “Languages of Ulster” programme which launched in 2022 with the introduction of Cúl Trá-il – a self-guided, educational Irish language trail. 

Inspired by the work of local Ulster-Scots poet, Robert Huddleston, whose extensive collection of poems, writings and manuscripts are held at the archive at Cultra, the trail uses 18 buildings and places at the museum to present Huddleston’s diverse combination of Scotch, English and Irish elements in his poetry. 

During the visit the Minister took the opportunity to hear more about the work of National Museums NI and its ambitions for the future, including plans which are currently underway to ‘reawaken’ the Ulster Folk Museum and unlock its potential as a dynamic heritage and environment resource. 

Kathryn Thomson, Chief Executive of National Museums NI, said: 

“At National Museums NI we want to ensure inclusive access to our museums and maximise the learning, wellbeing and economic benefits they bring to wider society. We have a fantastic opportunity to reawaken the Ulster Folk Museum and encourage people to reconnect with its heritage and environmental assets in new ways. 

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“We are delighted to have shared with Minister Lyons the rich cultural landscape and diverse collections preserved here at the Ulster Folk Museum. They have never been more relevant to our lives today, and with co-ordinated investment, we can help to bring people together and provoke new thinking about our shared and sustainable future. We were also grateful to have had the opportunity to showcase Ferguson’s groundbreaking Black Tractor and demonstrate how the Ulster Transport Museum not only honours our heritage in innovation, but inspires a curiosity amongst our visitors and supports the next generation of STEAM leaders.”