Newcastle Museum is celebrating 15 years at its Honeysuckle home, with new figures showing younger audiences are driving its continued success.

Around one in five visitors is now aged under 25, making Newcastle Museum one of the youngest-visited museums in Australia.

When the museum reopened at Honeysuckle in 2011, only six per cent of visitors were aged between 16 and 24.

The milestone comes as the museum continues to attract strong crowds, welcoming almost 2.3 million visitors since opening at the heritage-listed former Railway Workshops.

City of Newcastle Museum Archive Libraries and Learning Director Julie Baird said the museum’s programming had evolved to appeal to a broad audience while continuing to tell Newcastle’s story.

“Newcastle Museum is committed to telling the stories of ordinary and extraordinary Novocastrians through our collections, exhibitions and audience engagement – this is who we are, where we’ve come from and where we’re going,” Ms Baird said.

She said the museum had expanded its offering over the past 15 years to attract visitors of all ages.

“Our programming doesn’t just tap into the nostalgia of older generations but holds a mirror up to society across a spectrum of topics and ideas,” she said.

“We want to see people of all ages coming through our doors and have been strategic about what we offer to encourage growth in multiple age groups, from teen-led takeovers of the Museum after hours to exhibitions and programs for broad tastes and age ranges.”

The museum recorded its second-highest attendance last year, with more than 188,000 visitors.

It is on track for another strong year after more than 97,000 people visited by the end of July.

Ms Baird said the museum had also become a major drawcard for tourists, with around 65 per cent of visitors now travelling from outside the Hunter Region, compared with 27 per cent when the Honeysuckle site first opened.

She said annual visitor surveys played an important role in shaping exhibitions and programs.

“This year Newcastle Museum achieved a satisfaction rate of 96 per cent, with one of the highest visitation rates per capita in Australia,” she said.

Originally established in Newcastle West in 1988, the museum relocated to Honeysuckle in 2011 following the restoration of the former railway workshops.

Since then, it has presented 98 exhibitions, accepted more than 3,000 object donations and received 24 state, national and international awards.

For news more stories like this:

• 24 charged during rail crime crackdown
• Worker dies following incident at United Wambo mine
• Singleton job seekers to connect with local employers

Get all the latest Newcastle news, sport, real estate, entertainment, lifestyle and more delivered straight to your inbox with the Newcastle Weekly Daily Newsletter. Sign up here.