It is one of the ideas floated in early talks on how to use heritage buildings at TAFE's McCrae Street campus after construction works elsewhere on the site finish.

A discussion paper circulated by the Friends of the School of Mines outlines a pitch to once again house a collection of artifacts.

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The pieces would need loving care to avoid the rot that beset the old collection.

The campus once housed a fabled natural history collection that reputedly contained a now lost stuffed dodo.

That museum was closed in 1944 after decades of neglect.

Some former students have told historians specimens were given away as prizes to people who showed academic merit.

Historians have also heard some of the rock specimens were dumped down mine shafts, though others were donated to museums.

The whole story: How Bendigo history was dumped down some old mine shafts

Kay Smith, who has worked at the Bendigo TAFE library since 2006, said the historical accounts held limited detail.

"From information I have read, a shortage of space in the post-war years led to the breakup and dispersal of the [former] library and museum," she said.

It is "inconceivable" that Bendigo does not have a museum for industrial artifacts given it honed deep mining practices, discussion paper author Lindsay Jackson said.

"[It was] the very technology that enabled Bendigo and indeed Melbourne to become so wealthy in the latter part of the nineteenth century," he wrote in the paper.

The museum would focus on metallurgy, explosives and the laboratory knowledge that Bendigo honed at the old school of mines, according to the discussion paper's author Lindsay Jackson.

It could also feature insights into other key industries from the city's past like textiles, brewing, architecture and arts and pottery. Displays could be temporary much like Pall Mall's Post Office Gallery.

Professor Jackson said there might be opportunities to secure funding, given the state government recently announced a $50,000 grant to help the wider goldfields region's bid for UNESCO World Heritage listing.

Any museum would have to work in conjunction with the existing restaurant area.

"It is envisaged that various historical groups, interest groups, and clubs, would hold meetings accompanied with a lunch/dinner," he wrote.

The area would be open to the public on a restricted basis, Professor Jackson noted.

The idea has caught the attention of Bendigo's National Trust branch.

Its president Peter Cox said it could be one of a number of exciting ideas.

"It could become a centre like the Bendigo Art Gallery. Bendigo is at a point where it could take another major visitors centre," he said.

"Those ideas should be sourced from the Bendigo community and I'm sure people would have a lot of good ones.

"And I think you could look upon it in a similar way to the old Bendigo jail, which lay idle for some time before the community, a school and state and federal governments formed a very strong partnership to turn it into Ulumbarra Theatre."

Mr Cox said whatever ended up there could be part Pall Mall experience.

The area is already changing. Historic shopping complex the Beehive has been refurbished and the current law courts will soon be vacated for a modern facility on Hargreaves Street.

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