Does your volunteer museum need funding?

If your volunteer run museum requires funding for projects addressing skill development or operational and forward planning then consider an M&G NSW VIM grant.

VIM Skills Initiatives Grants provide funding to volunteer museums, museum networks and keeping places for regional or state focused skill development training and networking events.

 VIM Skills Initiatives grants

Closing: Friday 28 September 2012

VIM Small Grants aim to meet the short-term, collection-based requirements of community museums and keeping places. There are no set categories for funding, and applications for a broad range of projects will be considered.
 VIM Small grants

Closing: Friday 19 October 2012

VIM Development Projects Grants allow community museums and keeping places to carry out strategic and innovative projects with mid to long term outcomes. The grants can also provide an opportunity to work productively with an appropriate museums and/or arts consultant as a skill development opportunity.
 Development Project grant

Closing: Friday 19 October 2012

Ref: M&G NSW News 29 August 2012

State History Conference Registrations Now Open!

Photo: Australian Sugar Company's Works, Canterbury, [ca. 1842 / watercolour by Frederick Garling] (Image: Dixson Galleries, State Library of NSW – DG SV1A/13 )

As you probably know by now, the theme of the conference is "Saturated With Filth and Corruption": NSW History? The title is derived from an 1883 New South Wales Legislative Council Noxious and Offensive Trades Inquiry Commission referring to any industry that created a stink, especially if it was associated with offensive waste. The conference looks at the good, the bad and the ugly of NSW local history.

The weekend is full of activity (including pre and post conference events). Highlights include:

* Keynote speaker Professor Peter Spearritt, author of Sydney’s Century: a history
* Insights into methods for researching local history and heritage, as well as addressing management issues for local historical groups
* Presentations by local and specialist historians
* Welcome Drinks at 5.30pm, Friday 19th October at History House
* The presentation of RAHS Certificates of Achievement
* Announcement of Arts NSW Cultural Grants and NSW Heritage Grants
* Pre-conference oral history workshop - conducted by Oral History Association of Australia (NSW) on Friday 19th October at History House 

* Post-conference 'Managing Your Collection' seminar conducted by State Records Sales tables downstairs for sale of local histories and member publications

* Sales tables downstairs for sale of local histories and member publications
* Opportunities to network with other community-based historical societies around New South Wales

* Social events – Welcome drinks at History House (see above) and conference dinner on Saturday night at Rowers  on Cooks River

* Display at the Rowers on Cooks River of drawings of the building project proposed for History House

Do note the need to book in early for events and opportunities - in some cases there are limited spaces and it will be a matter of first come first serve.

As usual, Affiliated societies will be able to reserve a table for the sales of publications. There is no charge for table space, but reservations are mandatory (I was very impressed with the healthy vigour with which some societies defended their tables last year from those who had not had the foresight - a bit like the maidens in the bible who had no oil for their lamps and were left in the dark...you get the metaphor).

The State History Conference is a highlight of the year for the NSW local history community, and I highly recommend you attend.

We are very keen for our regional members to attend - and to assist you with planning your week(end) This information will be put onto our website and will be updated with via the eNewsletter.

Kind Regards,
Maria Walsh, CEO
(02) 9247 8001 or executive@rahs.org.au 

Register Online Today

Registration forms will be mailed to members with the September History magazine, but you may reserve your space today by submitting an online registration form, which can also be found on the RAHS website which includes details of Pre and Post Conference Events. 

If you prefer to register by mail, you may also download the full registration form here.

Lithgow Small Arms Factory Museum - Celebrating the Centenary

For SAF Centenary Programme click here.

For LSAFM Invitation click here.

RSL Living History Project - The Listening Post

The RSL Living History project is happy to announce that the first two decades (1920s and 1930s) of their official publication, the Listening Post, are now available for searching and downloading on the official website http://www.rslcentenary.org.au.

The PDFs were digitised from microfilm and are fully searchable. This is a major milestone for the project and will hopefully prove to be a valuable resource for researchers and history enthusiasts alike.

If you have the opportunity we would welcome your organisation to link to us either from your catalogue or any other relevant page on your website.

Ref: Museum 3 blog

Destination: Orange NSW, 1927

Update from Orange & District Historical Society. We have another sold out showing this Sunday 19th August and will be having another probably Sunday 2nd September.

On Wednesday 1 August, people in Orange will have the opportunity to see rare footage of the town, taken in 1927. The National Film and Sound Archive has joined with the Orange Historical Society to present this special screening of footage that captures a very different place to the city of today.

The charming 35-minute film captures a unique insight into Orange life and businesses between the two World Wars. The silent black and white footage includes aspects such as the local flour mills and bakeries; the ladies of the Country Women’s Association, members of the Orange Municipal and Canobolas Shire council; and well–known contemporary local identities such as Henry Hansen, the founder of Hansen’s Jewellery.

The footage was donated to the NFSA by Alan Press, a projectionist for Snider and Dean’s Orange Cinemas who helped clear out the building when the cinema ceased operations in 1964. In one of the cupboards he discovered a few spools of film, including the nitrate negative of footage of the town. He nearly sent it off to the tip, but decided to keep it and even held on to the reels when he moved to Condobolin in 1966.

In 2006, Press read about the restoration work being done by the NFSA on the feature film The Story of the Kelly Gang. Remembering the nitrate film he had saved so long ago, he decided to contact us to see if we were interested. And indeed we were! Closer inspection of the reels revealed beautiful, clear images of a mid-1920s Australian town, its inhabitants and businesses. Like many other silent films that survive only in negative format, it arrived with the inter-titles spliced together. This was possibly for tinting purposes, where differently tinted individual sequences – in this case the inter-titles – were grouped together in the one run before a final release print was made. They were clearly intended to be intercut with the relevant images.


With assistance from staff at the NFSA, Alan was able to identify that most of the film was shot in Orange and the surrounding district. But the identity of the filmmaker still remains a mystery. Alan and other members of the Orange Historical Society thought the film may have been shot by, or for, a family named Passlow, who were connected with cinemas in Orange or Wellington. Another projectionist who worked with Alan told him the Passlow family made films in the Orange region and that at least one of them may have been a cinematographer.

 Local Orange historians have found references in The Sydney Morning Herald to a film that has shots of Orange shown in May 1927, and some of the scenes listed in the article, were similar to those in the donated footage. It appeared to have been made for or by Edwin Daniel Passlow, the proprietor of Theatre Orange (later known as the Coronet), which opened in November 1926.

Earlier this year, with the invaluable assistance of Alan and the Orange Historical Society, the NFSA created a digital copy of the original film and inserted the original inter-titles with the relevant identified footage. This new version – still a work in progress as there is footage that we are unable to link together – is being screened in Orange on August 1 at the Odeon Cinemas from 6pm, and will provide the opportunity for the public to view unique footage of their town and hopefully to help us identify some of the places and people that appear on screen. The NFSA is delighted to be involved in screening this insight into regional Australia’s past and welcomes the opportunity to gain more information from the public about this original and rare footage of Orange.

 Click to play video.

Ref: National Film & Sound Archive blog.

Restoring a Historic Mural at Rylsone

Bridge View Inn at Rylstone

EVENING LECTURE: Restoring a Historic Mural at Rylstone

Date: Tue 30 Oct

Time: 05:30 pm

Additional Information

The Bridge View Inn in Rylstone in mid-West NSW contains a rare mural painted in the late 19th Century by an unknown artist, depicting the second Rylstone bridge, elaborately framed by decoration and nudes. The mural is in an extremely unstable condition, and painting conservators Matteo Volonte and Adam Godijn from International Conservation Services recently travelled to Rylstone to commence stabilisation and remove the layers of overpaint that had been discovered to be covering the top third of the image. The journey to Rylstone turned into one of discovery in many different ways. 

Adam Godijn graduated in 2000 as a paintings conservator and has led an exciting career in Australia and abroad. Adam is based in Sydney with International Conservation Services as a Senior Paintings Conservator and has worked on many of the most important private and public collections.
 

Virginia Hollister moved to Rylstone in 2004 after a career working as a lecturer at Sydney College of the Arts, then arts administrator for the Australia Council and the NSW Ministry for the Arts, then freelance arts and museum researcher and writer. In Rylstone she is deeply involved with the Rylstone and District Historical Society, who own and manage the Bridge View Inn.
 

A joint activity of ASHET and the RAHS
 

Venue: History House, 133 Macquarie Street, Sydney
Time: 5.30 for 6 pm
Cost: $8.00 Includes light refreshments on arrival

Multicultural Advantage Grants Program

The Community Relations Commission (CRC) invites applications from not-for-profit organisations under the new Multicultural Advantage Grants Program. The program includes: 

Sponsorship Grants: to $2,000 to support events and activities, such as festivals that foster community cohesion and promote the benefits of a multicultural society.

Overview

The purpose of the Sponsorship Grants category is to support events and activities that foster community cohesion and promote the benefits of a multicultural society.  It provides public support by the New South Wales Government to multiculturalism and the value of cultural diversity.

Applications are not sought through public advertisement outside the Commission’s website.

Priority areas for Sponsorship Grants

Projects supported under this category are:

• the hosting of seminars and conferences
• multicultural, inter-community and inter-faith forums
• local festivals and major cultural events such as exhibitions and concerts
• teaching craft skills to target groups from culturally diverse backgrounds.

For more detail on Funding, Eligibility and How to Apply click here.

Storing a garment in a large storage box

Photo: Powerhouse Museum

A clip from one of the Australian Dress Register Resources videos produced by the Powerhouse Museum.

Ref: Click here to view the video.

Apply now for 2013 Regional Services program

Applications are now open for individuals or organisations to receive project assistance, a regional internship or a movable heritage fellowship in 2013.

• Regional Internships provide training and development opportunities for regional and rural cultural workers, including short courses and a project-based, four-week internship at the Powerhouse Museum. Financial assistance of up to $750 is available. Applications close 28 September 2012. Read more

• Project Assistance offers cultural heritage organisations across New South Wales advice and/or assistance to assist in recording, preserving and displaying their collections for the benefit of the community. Applications close 28 September 2012. Read more

• The Movable Heritage Fellowship invites tertiary students to undertake a research project on an object or group of objects in a community museum, historical society or other collecting institution. The Fellow will receive $5,000 and spend a minimum of one week at the Powerhouse Museum working with a supervisor. Applications close 1 February 2013. Read more

Any questions or need help with your application? Contact Rebecca Pinchin, Powerhouse Museum on freecall 1800 882 092, ph (02) 9217 0220 or email rebecca.pinchin@phm.gov.aurebecca.pinchin@phm.gov.au

Congratulations to the successful applicants for the 2012 Movable Heritage Fellowships! Well done to Rosemarie Strange, for her project on the Hamilton Hume Dress collection at the Boorowa Museum and Roslyn Carroll, for her project on the Sir William Hudson’s Treasures in the Adaminaby Snowy Scheme Museum.

Riding high for a new vista of Orange

Riding high for a new vista of Orange

  View Orange, the society’s special project for 2012, has achieved much in the first half of the year, and offers some real treats in the coming months.

   Thanks to our very generous sponsor, Coates Hire, two panoramic photographs of Orange were taken by Orange professional photographer Alf Manciagli and Scott Gilbank on 1 May. The weather was perfect, with a fine showing of autumn colour enhancing the photos.

   One photo was taken from the vicinity of the former Dalton’s flour mill in Peisley Street, where the previous one was taken in 1908. 

   A second was taken from behind the Fire Station in Summer Street, from whose tower previous photos were taken.

   Society president Phil Stevenson said the retaking of panoramic photos of Orange was a timely event and would add greatly in years to come to the city’s archives of historic photos.

     “It was great to retake an iconic photograph of Orange as part of the View Orange project,” he said.    “I sincerely thank Vince Lamond of Coates Hire, and photographers Scott Gilbank and Alf Manciagli for supporting us in this venture. We could not have attempted it without them.”

Beautiful as the autumn colour is decided to have a further photoshoot soon because winter photos will allow clearer views of the city.

Seminar
  The second seminar to assist people in identifying, dating and preserving their photographs was held on 16 June. It was a successful day, following the earlier seminar held in March.

   To ensure that no-one misses out on this valuable information day, a final seminar will be held on Tuesday, 18 September from 6.30-9.30pm at Orange City Bowling Club.

1927 movie

   A real treat will be the screening at the Odeon Cinemas in William Street on Wednesday, 1 August of a rare silent movie about Orange, dating from 1927. The movie was discovered by former employee of the Strand Theatre Alan Press, when he worked there in the 1960s.

   It has recently been digitised by the National Film and Sound Archives so that people can see remarkable images of what Orange was like 85 years ago. 

   Society member Ross Maroney has spent a great deal of time examining the images to ensure that the inter-titles have been correctly named and placed.

   The screening of the movie will be a gala event, and a major fund-raiser for the society.
   Refreshments will be served in the foyer prior to the screening and it is hoped that Alan Press and representatives rom the National Film and Sound Archives will be present.

   All members of the society, and the general public, are warmly invited to attend. The cost of $20 will help boost the society’s funds so that it can continue with its work of preserving local history in all its forms.

   Tickets will go on sale on July 2 at Collins Booksellers: mark 1 August in your diaries!

Exhibition 
   The final View Orange event for the year will be an exhibition of historic photographs from the society’s collection and the CWD Negative Collection.

  The exhibition will take place in Orange TAFE College’s exhibition room. It will be opened in the evening of Wednesday, 26 September and continue daily for several days.

 Historic photographs from the society’s collection will be displayed as well as a special segment on Orange in the 1960s, using photographs from the CWD Negative Collection.

  As well, viewers will be able to compare the original panoramic photographs of Orange with the recent ones taken on behalf of the society.

  There will also be a segment on renowned Orange photographer William Bursle.

Ref: Orange & District Historical Society newsletter - Winter 2012 click to view newsletter

History Week Program Now Live!

The History Week program is now live, jump online to see the variety of events near you! Up to one hundred community events are showcasing Threads all over NSW, so use the online program to try on a calendar to suit you!

We'll be keeping you up to date with featured events and exhibitions throughout the lead up to History Week, and letting you know about the interesting historic stories that pass through our catalogue.

Threads is the theme of History Week 2012’s exhibitions, talks and fashion parades. Join designers, manufacturers and dress historians to discover the styles and stories of history. The week unearths some fabulous and fascinating faces, fabrics and culture from our past.

READ MORE

Lithgow Small Arms Factory Centenary - Colonial Weapons Exhibition

Lithgow Small Arms Factory Museum is hosting an exhibition of antique and colonial weapons from members of the Antique Arms Collectors Society of Australia. The opening will begin at 11.30am and talks and demonstrations from 1.00pm on Saturday 29 September 2012. Pre-booking for the opening would be appreciated.

When: Monday 24 September to Sunday 27 October 2012
Where: Lithgow Small Arms Factory Museum. 69 Methven Street, Lithgow
Email: lithgowsafmuseum@ozemail.com.au

Ref: M&G NSW News 1 August 2012