Sixty-three Victorian community groups, ranging from schools and libraries to sporting clubs and museums, will be doing their bit to record Victoria’s history thanks to support provided under the latest round of the Victorian Government’s Local History Grants Program.
Announcing grants totalling close to $350,000, Minister for the Arts Heidi Victoria said the funding will support projects that work to preserve and record the state’s history, while sharing it with the community and future generations.
The grants will support a range of projects aimed at documenting Victoria’s history, including book publishing, recording oral histories, digitising collections, the creation of websites and apps, microfilming, training and education, heritage trails, exhibitions, catalogues and historical collection preservation.
Supported projects include: the creation of an e-book to record the history of community activism to save St Kilda’s iconic Espy Hotel; the re-instating of a collection of historic memorabilia from the Marysville Cricket Club which was lost during the 2009 bushfires; an historical trail through Woodvale which will educate visitors about its fascinating past; and an innovative multimedia project created by the National Trust of Australia (Vic) which will bring the stories of Barwon Park’s wine cellars to life through sound and narrative recordings.
“The Local History Grants Program provides access to stories that may have otherwise remained untold. The funded projects rely heavily on the extraordinary work of avid community historians, devoted to collecting and recording the stories of our past. These fascinating projects will provide us with an understanding of our past, our place and our people,” Ms Victoria said.
A BIG congratulations to all recipients, it’s great to see organisations so many organisations small doing their part to preserve their history.
2013-2014 Victorian History Grant Recipients
| FUNDED ORGANISATION | PROJECT | FUNDING |
| The Australian National Aviation Museum | Cataloguing of Australian Aircraft Restoration Group Archive Collection | $1,800 |
| Ballarat Masonic Centre – Roger Porteous Library and Robert Bell Archive | Archive Preservation, Digitisation and Online Public Access | $13,000 |
| Ballarat Tramway Museum | Interpretation Panels on Ballarat’s Trams Heritage: Horsepower and Electric Power | $5,000 |
| Bayside Library Service | Digitisation of Brighton Southern Cross 1896-1913 on Trove | $11,918 |
| Beechworth Arts Council | The Peace of Our Time Heritage Trail | $3,200 |
| Beechworth Cemetery Trust | Beechworth Cemetery – Digitising of Archival Records for public access | $8,180 |
| Broadmeadows Historical Society Inc | Digitisation and Preservation Project | $6,452 |
| Central Highlands Libraries | Digitisation of Ballarat directories | $2,800 |
| Churchill and District News | Looking Back: An Oral History | $1,233 |
| City of Moorabbin Historical Society – Box Cottage Museum | Display cabinet and mannequin for Mary Box Wedding Dress c1918 | $2,500 |
| Cottage by the Sea | Conservation and presentation of Cottage by the Sea history | $9,875 |
| Echuca Historical Society Inc | Conserve 1872 Echuca: Illustrated Photographic Collection | $2,265 |
| Field Naturalists Club of Victoria | Publication of FNCV History | $8,000 |
| Friends of the McKay Memorial Gardens Inc. | McKay Memorial Gardens Oral History Project | $4,960 |
| Goulburn Valley Regional Library Corporation | Rural Life Stories across the Goulburn Valley | $5,360 |
| Greensborough Historical Society Inc. | Creation of website for Greensborough Historical Society Inc | $5,000 |
| Harrow Bush Nursing Centre | Publication of Pathways to Harrow 2013 | $3,438 |
| Heide Museum of Modern Art | Heide Scarred Tree | $9,000 |
| Heytesbury and District Historical Society | Antares Commemorative Plaque | $1,282 |
| Heywood Pioneer Wagon Shed and History Group | Dairying, Milk Transport and Cheese making in the Heywood District | $5,500 |
| Kilcunda Bass Cricket Club | A long Innings – Towards 150 Years of Cricket Along the Waterline. | $3,700 |
| Kingston City Council | Kingston Indigenous Walking Trail | $8,995 |
| Koonung Cottage Community House | Koonung Cottage history website | $2,450 |
| Lakes Entrance Regional Historical Society Inc. | Girls of Our Town | $2,994 |
| Leongatha and District Historical Society | The Leongatha historic plaque project | $5,345 |
| Lions Club of Camperdown Inc | Camperdown History Interpretive Plaques Project | $6,660 |
| Mallee Family Care Inc. | Preservation & online publication of the Frank Zaetta 1956 flood photography | $2,610 |
| Malvern Historical Society Inc | So I’ve heard: oral recollections of Malvern. | $2,418 |
| Maribyrnong Library Service, Maribyrnong City Council | Oral Stories from the making of A History of Footscray | $5,450 |
| Maryborough Family History Group Inc | A Social Ramble through the Maryborough Cemetery book | $2,810 |
| Marysville and District Cricket Club | Marysville Clubroom Historic Memorabilia | $2,500 |
| Melbourne‘s Living Museum of the West. | Living Museum Product Digitisation | $10,000 |
| Mitchell Community Radio | The first Coach stop. Series two | $1,055 |
| Mornington Peninsula Family History Society | The Hall on the Hill: A History of the Frankston Mechanics’ Hall and Free Library 1873 to 2013 | $3,000 |
| Mount Rouse & District Historical Society Inc | Digitisation the Penshurst Free Press 1901-1913 | $4,368 |
| Nagambie and District Historical Society | Conservation and cataloguing the collection | $2,855 |
| National Trust of Australia (Victoria) | Barwon Park Orchard and Wine Cellar Experience | $9,430 |
| Nillumbik Shire Council | Nillumbik Heritage booklet | $12,940 |
| Port Arts Network | Portarlington History Trail | $1,200 |
| Port Fairy to Warrnambool Rail Trail Committee Inc | Identifying the stations along the Warrnambool to Port Fairy rail trail | $3,750 |
| Red Cliffs and District Historical Society | Our Town Red Cliffs | $1,260 |
| Red Rock Progress Association | Red Rock District Heritage Project | $2,673 |
| Seymour and District Historical Society Inc | Seymour and District Historical Society 50th Anniversary Project | $7,000 |
| South Gippsland Radio 3mFM Inc | 3mFM Oral Histories from South Gippsland | $2,700 |
| Springthorpe Owners Corporation | Springthorpe and La Trobe Heritage Project | $15,000 |
| St Kilda Historical Society | Preserving the history of community activism in St Kilda – Espy Hotel Campaign 1997-2003 | $10,100 |
| St. Aloysius College | Conservation and cataloguing of objects and records | $2,000 |
| Stonnington History Centre | Digitising the Prahran Chronicle, 1882-1906 | $12,600 |
| Swan Hill Regional Library | Swan Hill Region Digitisation and Preservation Project | $11,085 |
| Tallarook Mechanics Institute | ‘There’s nothing crook in Tallarook’ (digital history timeline) | $9,000 |
| The Dunrobin Public Hall Committee of Management | Dunrobin Public Hall Centenary celebrations | $2,000 |
| The Melbourne Athenaeum Inc | 2nd revised edition – If the Walls Could Speak: A social history of Mechanics’ Institutes of Victoria | $15,000 |
| The Regent Theatre | The Regent Theatre archive project | $10,541 |
| Torquay & District Historical Society | Virtual Collection project | $6,408 |
| Wangaratta Family History Society Inc | Digitise and Index the Rates Books 1937 -1939 with a searchable database | $10,678 |
| Wangaratta Historical Society Inc | Aboriginal Artefacts exhibition | $1,925 |
| Warrandyte Primary School | Warrandyte Primary School 150th Anniversary archive book & DVD | $2,500 |
| Waterloo Community Group Inc. | Publishing Our Waterloo History Book | $3,500 |
| Williamstown High School | 100 Years & Counting digitisation project | $4,000 |
| Wimmera Regional Library Corporation | The Jane Duff ‘Lost in the Bush’ film digitisation | $2,227 |
| Wonwondah Hall Volunteer Group | Restoration of District Tennis Club Premiership photos | $564 |
| Woodvale Progress Association Inc | Woodvale Historical Trail | $8,335 |
| Yarra Libraries (City of Yarra) | Digitisation of and access to Richmond Rates Records 1857-1865 | $3,520 |
The Local History Grants Program is managed by Public Record Office Victoria. Further information on the Program can be found at www.prov.vic.gov.au
