Federation of Australian Historical Societies

FEDERATION OF AUSTRALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETIES INC

e-BULLETIN No. 102 – 19 July 2012

Hon Editor, Dr Ruth S. Kerr

1) Cooktown's 'Your Community Heritage' grant

2) e-Hive

3) Australian Government funding - recovering from natural disasters

4) Local history - Carnamah, Western Australia

5) Australian Prospectors and Miners Hall of Fame

6) Commonwealth Government & charities legislation

7) South Australian History Fund 2012-2013 grants

1) Cooktown's 'Your Community Heritage' grant

The Cooktown Re-enactment Association has been awarded an Australian Government ‘Your Community Heritage’ grant administered by the Heritage Division in the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, to develop a state-of-the-art interactive mobile audio tour of the town – entitled The Cooktown Historical and Cultural Self-Guided Walking Tour. It will be able to be used in player devices and smart phones. It will include indigenous and non-indigenous cultural heritage. Accoustiguide, an international company specializing in these types of systems will be engaged to enable the project. British actors will take the part of Cook, Banks and other officers on the Endeavour. When the project is completed player devices and headphones will be available at Nature’s Power House at Cooktown.

(Source: Cooktown Local News 7-13 June 2012 p.3 including photograph)

2) e-Hive

e-Hive is a part of the cloud computing innovation some historians have been talking informally about. It is mainly aimed at collections. Like many of these new online developments, the basic account is free. What makes this tool important to our members is that among the e-Hive clients (of Vernon Systems Ltd) are the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre, the Queensland Police Museum, and a number of Australian institutions, such as the Maritime Museum of Tasmania, and the Koori Heritage Trust.

e-Hive could be useful for historical society members as an important source for gathering images of historical objects or obtaining information on those objects; as a way to create on-line collections for client groups; and/or a site to share a collaborate project.

For more information on e-Hive, see http://ehive.com/

(Source: Professional Historians Association (Queensland) E-Bulletin Editor – 9 July 2012)

3) Australian Government funding - recovering from natural disasters

The Musk to Bullarto - Restoration of heritage rail link in Victoria project will repair ix the substantial damage to the heritage railway infrastructure between Musk and Bullarto since its closure as a result of being isolated after the 23 February 2009 Musk Vale bushfire.

The next funding round within the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Populations and Communities for 2012-13 will open in the coming months. Further information about the Your Community Heritage program is available online at www.environment.gov.au/heritage/programs/ych

(Source: Australian National Heritage E-Newsletter Issue 6, June 2012)

4) Local history - Carnamah, Western Australia

Carnamah Historical Society has just received a $23,500 grant from Western Australia’s Department of Culture and the Arts to develop another six virtual exhibits, and to also digitise and publish online 18 booklets (mostly old Show Society schedules of prizes). The images of the society’s existing virtual exhibits are now periodically shown on the big screen in Perth's Cultural Centre - which promotes Carnamah, 300kms north of Perth, to a wide and very different audience.

The Society has also begun recruiting virtual volunteers - which allows people to be a part of what the Society does wherever they are, and also increases output. So far there are 22 virtual volunteers who are working on indexing Commonwealth Electoral Rolls for the subdivision of Irwin. The output of this and future extraction/indexing will be input into the Society’s databases, which are published on the website. They have two virtual volunteers from Carnamah and the remainder are from places all over Western Australia, the eastern states and two in England. Some have strong connections to our locality or have appreciated our work, while others fall into neither category and are just happy to help!

DCA Grant:
http://carnamah.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/carnamah-to-online-virtual-ticket-to.html

Virtual Volunteers:
http://carnamah.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/were-recruiting-virtual-volunteers.html

The Society’s blog recently made it into Inside History magazine's Top 50 Blogs, and has also been included in a University of Alabama study into the way in which small archives and historical societies use blogs to promote themselves. The output of the study is a simple guide to blogging written specifically for small archives and historical societies.

(Source: Carnamah Historical Society – 10 July 2012)

5) Australian Prospectors and Miners Hall of Fame

The Australian prospectors and Miners Hall of Fame at Kalgoorlie is to reopen as a training centre as well as a tourist centre. $20 million has been allocated from the Royalties for the Regions Program by the Western Australian government for student training at the hall of fame and of student accommodation at Agricola College in Kalgoorlie-Boulder.

The redevelopment of Agricola College will see the existing accommodation for 127 students demolished and replaced with ten contemporary units to cater for 180 students from both the Western Australian School of Mines and the Vocational Training and Education Centre (VTEC) in Kalgoorlie-Boulder.

... “This project represents a strong partnership between the Department of Training and Workforce Development, Curtin University, VTEC and the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder and further underpins the ongoing commitment the Liberal-National Government has invested in the Training and Workforce Development portfolio.”

… The Mining Hall of Fame will also take on a new lease of life as a training centre while retaining its tourist attractions.

Hon Cowper MP said “the newly-formed Goldfields Institute of Technology would use the facility for new training courses for mining industry workers to upgrade their operational skills to para-professional qualifications.”

The State Government will invest $3million to refurbish part of the Hall of Fame building to be used as learning spaces.

“The Mining Hall of Fame is a valuable community asset. With Government, community and industry working together, we now look forward to a positive future which meets the needs of the mining industry while preserving the historic and tourist attractions of the past,” Hon Cowper MP said.

…The first course will commence in July. Local employers have already indicated an inaugural enrolment of about 30 students, and it is expected that there will be an increasing uptake.

The course work will also prepare candidates for the theory and practical requirements of a Quarry Manager’s Certificate and Underground Supervisor’s Certificate as well as providing a pathway to a First Class Mine Manager bridging course and qualification.

(Source: Media Statement by Murray Cowper, Minister for Training and Workforce Development; Corrective Services and Brendon Grylls MP and Minister for Regional Development; Lands; Minister Assisting the Minister for State Development MP, Perth, 3 July 2012)

6) Commonwealth Government & charities legislation

The federal government has referred its draft laws to establish a charities register to a parliamentary committee to hold hearings over the parliamentary recess. Assistant Treasurer, David Bradbury MP, has stated that the regulator will begin operations in October 2012. It will affect all registered charities including historical societies registered for tax deductible purposes and operating in a not-for-profit situation.

(Source: Australian Financial Review 9 July 2012 p.4)

7) South Australian History Fund 2012-2013 grants

The South Australian History Fund is an annual grant fund totalling $35,000 with funding available in three categories: Projects, Publications, Research

The grants are funded by the South Australian government and administered by History SA.

Grant round closes Monday 30 July 2012.

Project Grants support South Australian community history initiatives that either:

• interpret aspects of South Australia’s history
• preserve the evidence of this history
• make this evidence accessible to the public.

Publication grants are available to support well-researched, well-written, skilfully edited and well-designed publications focusing on South Australian history, and in particular with a regional, local or specialist focus.

Research grants support substantial original research that makes a significant contribution to the body of knowledge about or understanding of South Australian history.

Applications for all categories are invited from incorporated South Australian historical societies, National Trust branches, community history museums, local councils and voluntary organisations.

Unincorporated organisations may be eligible if an incorporated organisation is willing to sponsor their application.

Individual historians may apply for publication grants and research grants. Applications for research grants are also invited from professional historians, tertiary institutions or other organisations.

It is anticipated that most applicants to the SAHF will be based in South Australia but applicants from outside the State, who are working on South Australian history, will be considered.

State and Federal government agencies and museums are not eligible.

Guidelines and application form is available from the South Australian Community History website: www.community.history.sa.gov.au/grants

For more information please contact: History SA reception on 08 8203 9888 or community@history.sa.gov.au

(Source: History SA website – 16 July 2012)