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Australia's Largest Private Computer Collection In Pictures

Posted by timothy on from the that's-not-a-private-computer-collection dept.

Da Massive writes "UNIX PDP-7, a classic DEC PDP-8, the original IBM PC, Commodore's C64, Apple's Lisa, a MITS Altair 8800 made famous by Bill Gates, through to a working PDP-11 that plays the ADVENTURE and DUNGEON games. Max Burnet has got it all. Burnet has turned his home in the leafy suburbs of Sydney into arguably Australia's, if not the world's, largest private computer museum. Since retiring as director of Digital Equipment Corporation a decade ago, Burnet has converted his home into a snapshot of computer history. Every available space from his basement to the top floor of his two-storey home is covered with relics from the past. On top of his hardware collection are numerous punch cards, tape machines (including the original paper tape) and over 6000 computer reference books. So in demand is his collection that one Australian film called on him to recreate a computer setting (PDP-9) for a movie about the moon landing in 1969."

4 of 131 comments (clear)

  1. Even with all that notoriety... by retech · · Score: 5, Funny

    He's still struggling to justify all of it to his wife. It's a daily battle and hopefully, one day, she'll think it's cool having all that gear in the house. Just remember to wipe your feet if you visit.

  2. Actually... by femto · · Score: 5, Informative

    Max Burnett is a founding member of the Australian Computing Museum Society and I think you will find the PDP9, and probably most of the rest, are part of its collection and that Mr Burdett is storing them since the ACMS does not have a permanent home. They were possibly collected by Mr Burnett in the first place and donated to the society, but they would still be part of the ACMS collection. Any ACMS members care to fill in the details?

    Presumably you too could join the ACMS and after a while have a house full of vintage computers too! :-)

    1. Re:Actually... by JohnDeane · · Score: 5, Informative

      Max Burnet started the collection, pretty much as 'Da Massive' says. It expanded into a Digital Users' Group then those folk formed ACMS in 1994. Max bought the initial collection when he retired and many subsequent donations have been made to ACMS. So there are two collections managed in a somewhat overlapping and cooperative way. And yes, the lack of a secure store/museum means that quite a lot of the material is in members' homes awaiting space for proper organisation, documentation and display. Sigh. (I'm the current President of ACMS)

  3. This museum needs a home and a benefactor(s). by speleolinux · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's a shame that CIO Magazine which goes to many business people who lead large computer companies made no mention that this museum needs help. Maybe they weren't asked, perhaps. Most of those machines will probably go to the wreckers. A few dedicated individuals maintain this museum at $1000/month out of their own pocket. Over the years of people asking for financial help and space not a single company is interested in helping to preserve this history. Nor has any Federal or State Govt come to help as they don't see that Australias track record in computing is important. Having immigrants answer a question about Don Bradman on their citizenship test is far more important. There are enough computer companies in Australia that owe so much to computer history that they should find a permanent place for this treasure and support it.

         

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