A BIG congratulations to the 58 Victorian oganisations who have just been awarded Local History Grants. The money used by them will go toward projects which will aid in preserving different aspects of Victoria’s history.
The Victorian Local History Grants Program provides grants of up to $12,000 to community organisations to support the cost of any project that preserves, records or publishes Victorian local history. The program is administered by Public Record Office Victoria, and they offered $350,000 to projects in the 2011-12 financial year. The Premier and Minister for the Arts Ted Baillieu MLA has announced recipients of the 2011-2012 Local History Grants Program.
ANGAIR Inc
Awarded: $4,332
The ANGAIR History project aims to publish a book recording the achievements and challenges of this highly regarded conservation organisation.
Bacchus Marsh & District Historical Society Inc
Awarded: $950
This grant will be used to digitise and catalogue advertisments from the Bacchus Marsh Express newspaper from 1866 to 2001, thereby documenting the history and changing nature of businesses and shops over a 135 year period.
Ballarat Mechanics’ Institute
Awarded: $6,000
This project will conserve the large paper collection of the Ballarat Mechanics’ Institute including letters and maps. Fragile items from the collection will be digitised and made available online.
Bena Community Group Inc
Awarded: $7,600
This project involves the publication of the Bena and District History book and DVD. The manuscript was produced with the aid of a Local History Grants in 2006–2007. The grant funds will be spent on designing the book layout, printing and distribution, and the production of DVDs containing the digital version of the book.
Binnap Partners
Awarded: $11,387.41
Funding for this project will be used to produce an achival policy for Binnap Partners, catalogue and digitise the collection and purchase achival materials for the ongoing preservation of records.
Blackburn & District Tree Preservation Society Inc
Awarded: $7,130.10
Produce a booklet covering the fifty year history of the Blackburn & District Tree Preservation Society since its inception in 1959. The publication will detail the achievements of one of Victoria’s oldest environmental organisations.
Boolarra Public Cemetery Trust
Awarded: $3,500
Establish a website for the Boolarra Public Cemetery featuring burial information of over 450 internments available online.
Bonnie Doon Community Group
Awarded: $4,035
Collate historical pictures and stories to produce an information board chronicaling the history of Bonnie Doon. This will be displayed near the site of the now submerged original township.
Brighton Cemetorians Inc
Awarded: $5,455
The aim of the project is to publish a book on the history of the Brighton General Cemetery.
Carlton Community History Group|
Awarded: $728.83
The Carlton Community History Group aims to publish its study of the changing use and fortunes of the shops and buildings in Rathdowne Street, North Carlton from 1872.
Central Goldfields Regional Library Corporation
Awarded: $9,000
The aim of this project is to make the Historic Bendigo Rates Index available online through the Goldfields Library Corporation website. The project will involve converting the current Access database to SQL platform.
Central Highlands Libraries
Awarded: $3,506.40
This project will amalgamate surviving copies of Chinese newspapers printed in 1850s Ballarat onto a single microfilm. A digitised version of the material will also be available online through the Trove
Charlton 2013 Back-to Committee
Awarded: $8,000
Publish a book celebrating the history, stories and images of Charlton from the last 150 Years.
Chewton Bushlands Association Inc
Awarded: $6,900
The project aims to collect and assemble historical material related to an area known as the Chewton Bushlands in central Victoria. This material will be collated and published as a book, production of a DVD and made available through a website.
Chinese Youth Society of Melbourne Inc (CYSM)
Awarded: $10,000
Production of a collection of generational oral history records from the Chinese Australian Community of Victoria from before WWII to after the millennium.
Collective of Self Help Groups (COSHG) Inc (City of Melbourne)
Awarded: $2,150
This project seeks to preserve and catalogue a collection of library materials including newsletters, books, guides, directories and journals which records the history of the self help and support group community in Victoria.
Cockatoo History Committee
Awarded: $4,729
This project will preserve Cockatoo’s existing oral, photographic and documentary history and make widely available for the community. Funds will be used to transfer interviews from cassette tapes to CD, to have audio files transcribed and purchase archival supplies.
Dandenong Ranges Historical Council Inc
Awarded: $2,717
The aim of this project is to preserve and digitise the Helen Coulson archive, and make accessible online. The archive includes documents, letters and notes used in writing the major work Story of the Dandenongs, 1838-1958.
Daylesford Spa – Country Railway
Awarded: $2,589
The aim of this project is to digitise the Daylesford Spa Country Railway collection and create a database of drawings and technical detail of heritage Victorian Railways rolling stock. Particular emphasis will be placed on railmotors that once used the Daylesford branch lines from Woodend and Ballarat.
Echuca Historical Society Inc
Awarded: $4,485
This project will conserve sections of the Echuca Historical Society photographic collection depicting the early community. This work will ensure the ongoing preservation of the collection for current and future generations and digitised copies will form part of an exhibition.
Echuca Moama Family History Group
Awarded: $3,253.35
The grant will be used to produce a pictorial history of the Echuca Cemetery available on DVD and as a book. This record will include details of families buried in the Cemetery and photographs of graves.
Emerald Community House and the Emerald Museum (Cardinia)
Awarded: $6,400
Develop interpretive plaques for the Emerald Heritage Trail identifying significant historic site within the district. The project will increase awareness of the history of Emerald, as one of the oldest towns in the Dandenong’s, and serve as an important educational resource for tourists and the local community.
Friends of Robert O’Hara Burke Memorial Museum
Awarded: $10,000
Digitise the Ovens and Murray Advertiser (1855-65) and make available online through the Trove database.
Geelong Steam Preservation Society
Awarded: $10,000
The project will allow the design, development and production of interpretive displays documenting the history of the Queencliff, Lake Siding and Drysdale Railway Stations for visitors on The Bellarine Railway.
Healesville & District Historical Society Inc
Awarded: $8,173
Funds will be used for this project to produce a pictorial history of Healesville comprising approximately 230 historical photographs and will be structured thematically.
Heywood Rural Health
Awarded: $5,000
Funding will be used to develop and publish ‘Life Stories’. The book will capture and retain for posterity valuable histories of families from rural Victoria and be widely available in eBook format.
Huntly Fire Brigade
Awarded: $7,139
Collect, collate and preserve the history of the Huntly Fire Brigade and fire services in the Huntly area, and provide this information in an archive, publication and online.
Inglewood District Historical Society Inc
Awarded: $2,400
This grant will be used to edit and reprint the book Inglewood in The Scrub. A section of the updated publication will be made available on the Inglewood District Historical Society website.
JOY Melbourne Incorporated
Awarded: $6,050
This project will record the oral histories of our community elders so that their experiences and life lessons can be shared. The recordings will be made widely available through online access.
Kaniva Sheep Art
Awarded: $2,600
Kaniva Sheep Art will produce a book documenting the many wool bale stencils in the district and the stories behind them.
Kilmore Racing Club
Awarded: $8,000
The aim of the project is to publish a 150 year history of the Kilmore Racing Club. The book will focus on the major achievements of both thoroughbred and harness movements and the Club’s importance in the local community.
Linton and District Historical Society
Awarded: $4,522
Develop and publish a photographic history of Linton and district available as a book and as a CD. The history will start with the Aboriginal inhabitants of the Linton district in the 1840s when European settlement began and cover the various phases of immigration and non-indigenous occupation to the present time.
Melbourne’s Living Museum of the West Incorporated
Awarded: $9,100
Digitise a number of the Museum’s earlier exhibitions and transfer them into digital form to create a series of virtual exhibitions from the Living Museum’s extensive collection.
Mildura & District Genealogical Society Inc
Awarded: $4,610
This project will involve indexing the headstone transcriptions and photographs collected from the Mildura Cemetery to produce a book and DVD of 16,000 records.
Mission to Seafarers – Victoria
Awarded: $3,245.66
Curate two exhibitions from the collection items held by the Mission to Seafarers Victoria. The exhibitions will be primarily photographic in nature and will explore the theme of the relationship between humanity and the sea.
Morwell Historical Society Inc
Awarded: $7,000
The aim of this project is to produce a DVD documenting the history of Morwell and district from pre-European settlement to the present day. The DVD will trace major influences which have shaped our local history including: the advent of train travel; development of the coal and power industry; soldier settlements; post-war migration; industry shift from agriculture to manufacturing to service industries; and the recent growth of ethnic communities.
Mount Dandenong & District Historical Society Inc
Awarded: $2,410
Identify and catalogue the complete collection of the Mount Dandenong & District Historical Society using the software program Maxus Collections for Museums.
Nagambie and District Historical Society
Awarded: $4,924
This project will publish a book documenting the history of all past and present schools and churches in Nagambie and district.
Numurkah Agricultural & Pastoral Society Inc
Awarded: $2,300
The aim of this project is to write a book that preserves the 130 year history of our show society and documents its connection and value to the whole of the Numurkah community.
People and Parks Foundation
Awarded: $12,000
The aim of this project is to enhance the interpretive value of the Point Nepean Quarantine Station to visitors by making historical records directly accessible through interactive platforms online.
Pomonal Progress Association Inc
Awarded: $5,500
The grant funding will be used to publish a high quality book documenting the history of Pomonal and produce a DVD containing photographs. The publication will expand on the original book published in 1985 and include a bibliography, index, full citations and approximately double the content.
Port Phillip EcoCentre
Awarded: $6,900
The Port Phillip Ecocentre, in partnership with the Boon Wurrung Foundation, will develop a booklet and online resource of historical and explanatory material for a heritage walk from the Ngargee (corroboree) Tree to St Kilda Beach.
Queenscliffe Historical Museum Inc
Awarded: $5,000
The aim of this project is to digitise large oversized records including architectural drawings, maps and plans.
Raymond Island History Group
Awarded: $5,500
This project will research and publish a 25th anniversary history of the making of the Raymond Island Friendship Quilt. The stories of the remaining quilters will be recorded to document what the project represented for future generations.
Romsey & Lancefield Districts Historical Society Inc
Awarded: $1,080
This project will develop booklets detailing historical sites located along the Lancefield and Romsey History Trails.
Rosebud West History Group
Awarded: $9,333
Collect, record and produce a history of Rosebud West available in book form, DVD and online. The project will provide an important record of the past for future generations.
St Kilda Historical Society
Awarded: $5,000
The project will provide an on-line e-book version of “The History of South Melbourne”, by Charles Daley. The outcome will be an accessible and searchable resource of the history of South Melbourne from 1830s to 1938.
Trafalgar and District Historical Society Inc
Awarded: $5,465
Digitise the first sixteen years of The Yarragon, Trafalgar and Moe Settlement News dating from 1904. The digitised material will be available online through the Trove database.
Upper Murray Historical Society Inc
Awarded: $10,000
This project will identify and record the oral histories of indigenous descendants of the Upper Murray region. The content of interviews will be used to produce a DVD, transcripts and performance based exhibition.
Victorian Aboriginal Community Services Associated Ltd
Awarded: $12,000
Funding will be used to record oral histories with the surviving Aboriginal leaders across Victoria and write a history of Aboriginal affairs in Victoria from the 1970s to the present.
Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service
Awarded: $12,000
Record and archive the oral and pictorial histories of people who have been involved with the establishment and ongoing existence of this important Aboriginal Community Controlled Legal Service.
Victorian Working Sheep Dog Association Inc
Awarded: $5,570
Digitise the Victorian Working Sheep Dog Association archives from 1927 to enable greater accessibility for members and the general public.
Warracknabeal Anzac Memorial Park Trustees
Awarded: $2,390
Funding will be used to print a booklet documenting the historical elements of the original construction of Anzac Memorial Park, and the ongoing developments through to the present day. Particular emphasis will be placed on the many commemorative plaques, buildings, artefacts and gates located throughout the Memorial Park.
Werribee District Historical Society
Awarded: $9,078.90
This project will improve the storage and display of the Werribee District Historical Society collection through the purchase of archival supplies, display cases and equipment.
Wooragee Community Centre Committee of Management
Awarded: $3,944
This project will record and transcribe memories of elderly residents before the opportunity to do so is lost. Funding will also be used to reproduce original 1856 and 1870 Title maps for display, preservation and to enhanced provide community access.
Yallourn Association (Yallourn Old Girls’ Association Inc)
Awarded: $12,000
The Virtual Yallourn Project is an interactive model of the lost township of Yallourn in Latrobe Valley. This grant will be used to further expand the site to enable a street level tour of the town with an interactive timeline of the town being built and then being demolished.
Yarrambat Historical Society Inc and Yarrambat Primary School
Awarded: $3,328
This project will develop interpretive signage highlighting significant local historic landmarks. The interpretative signage will complement the existing historical walking brochure “Ye Olde Yarrambat Walk” developed by the Yarrambat Historical Society Inc.
Yarraville Community Centre (Maribyrnong)
Awarded: $10,000
This grant will be used to write and publish the social history of the Yarraville sugar refinery founded in 1873. The book will explore the contribution of the refinery to the local community and its significance in national food production
