What was once a rubbish heap of discarded machinery, rusting iron, and bottomless blackholes left over from its century as a railyard, was transformed into a house of art treasures of national significance.

It was all made possible by a small band of business people, bureaucrats and arts administrators who held fast to a 10-year dream.

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In today's flashback gallery, we delved into The Examiner's archives to find the grand opening of the glorious site on November 23, 2001.

Speaking to The Examiner one decade ago, former Launceston City Council general manager Bob Campbell recalled his first impression of the Inveresk site.

"I was brought down here and we walked around it looked like a demolition yard - that was about 1991," he said. "I was thinking how on earth will we convert this to anything?"

It was when Mr Campbell went into the blacksmith shop that he was converted to the Inveresk dream.

National Museum of Australia collections general manager Freda Hanley put the Launceston's museum in the same sentence as London's famous Tate Modern.

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"It's fabulous. I love the use of the space. It's so light and airy" she said as she eyed off the Inveresk objects as potential touring exhibition material.

The one person who most wanted to be at the official opening was the one who could not be there.

Then mayor John Lees could see the Inveresk site out his hospital endows, where he was recovering from a heart attack. His one wish was to have seen the looks on people's faces as they walked into the museum.

You can look at our previous flashback gallery here.

You can also head to The Examiner's multimedia section to check out all the other photo galleries.

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