Statement of principles for the recognition of volunteers 

Promote fairness, respect and dignity in your organisation by following these principles.

• This organisation demonstrates a commitment to best practice in volunteer management and all our people respect and support this commitment.
• Our volunteers are involved in the life of the organisation and are included in decisions that affect them.
• This organisation provides volunteers with clarity about their roles and is clear about expectations and policies that impact on their roles.
• Our volunteers respect the roles of everyone in the organisation.
• This organisation recognises and celebrates the contribution of volunteers.
• Our volunteers are provided with training and professional development for their roles.
• This organisation provides all our people with the opportunity to resolve disputes with respect and dignity.

 

NEED MORE INFORMATION? VISIT: volunteering.nsw.gov.au

Volunteer-friendly organisations are able to Adopt the Principles and demonstrate their commitment to their volunteers.
Released on 13 May 2013 by The Hon. Victor Dominello MP, Minister for Citizenship and Communities.

Lithgow Museums’ Networking Group

The Lithgow area is a hidden gem of history and heritage. Visitors and locals alike can enjoy the history of one of the most fascinating areas in Australia through the many museums, historic sites and heritage organizations. From aboriginal history through to the history of the Small Arms Factory and from Hartley through to Glen Davis there are sites and museums to learn about aboriginal, convict, mining, social, railway and factory history.

In March 2012 a group of museum and heritage organization operators from the Lithgow LGA met at Eskbank House and Museum to have a chat about how they could help each other out. From this initial gathering the Lithgow Museums’ Networking Group was formed. The group meets monthly and our aims are: educating each other to improve the quality of our museums, networking to promote each other’s museums and share resources, co-operating to create a combined museum experience for visitors and sharing enthusiasm and to enjoy each other’s company as museum and heritage enthusiasts. It is exciting to be able to work together, take strength from each other and present a combined museums  experience to visitors and locals.

There are 12 organisations in the group, some able to attend regularly others coming when they can or contributing via email, etc. The groups include: Lithgow and District Family History Society (LDFHS), Lithgow Small Arms Factory Museum (LSAFM), Simmo’s Museum, Eskbank House and Museum, Lithgow Library Learning Centre (LLLC), Lithgow State Mine Heritage Park, Lithgow State Mine Railway Ltd, Hartley Historical Village, Portland History Group, Rydal Village Association, Delta Expo and Newnes Pub. Each organisation takes turns hosting the meetings and this has been an invaluable part of getting to know each other’s museums and being able to share resources and promote other museums to visitors.

The group has participated in several group activities aimed at increasing visitor numbers to museums and generally get the word out that Lithgow’s Heritage is amazing and worth a visit. 

Our first activity was an Open Day for many of the museums in the group on International Museums Day 2012. International Museums Day is in May and is celebrated by over 30 000 museums throughout the world.  With a short time to organize and limited advertising most museums still saw an increase in visitation on the day of over 500 %. The group has more plans for International Museums Day 2013 and also celebrating other international days like Volunteers Day 2012 with an afternoon tea for the wonderful volunteers in all our organizations.

The next group activity was a combined stall at Daffodils at Rydal. Photos from the different organizations were displayed and pamphlets and postcards were handed out along with our first Lithgow Heritage Newsletter outlining heritage events happening in September and October in the region. The most rewarding part of the day was talking to people about the museums and history and hearing their stories of the area. Perhaps this is infact the most rewarding part of running a museum in general.

Our next event was another stall at the Back to Hartley Celebrations on Sunday 28 October 2012. This time we included a “What is it?” table with a variety of mysterious objects for people to ponder, a “Who is it?” display of historic photos of Lithgow Citizens with room for people to comment, displays from the museums and projected historical images of the Lithgow area. Of course the most interesting part of our stall was talking heritage and history and spending time with other museum enthusiasts.

Our Christmas party will be a well earned reward for all the hard work, much of it voluntary, that all the organization participants put in to operating their museums and preserving and presenting to the public the wonderful history that is Lithgow. 

Jan Saundercock

Lithgow and District Family History Society

Ref: M & G NSW blog

2012 Heritage Volunteer Awards

2012 Heritage Volunteer Awards now open
 
The Minister for Heritage, the Hon Robyn Parker MP, has called on nominations for our “Heritage Volunteer Heroes”.

Do you know of an individual or organisation who has contributed to the conservation, management or promotion of heritage in your local community?

Would you like to pay tribute to the men and women who have volunteered their time and personal commitment to ensuring that our State’s unique history and heritage sites are protected for future generations?

The Heritage Council of NSW and the NSW Government invite you to nominate your ‘heritage hero’ as a recipient in the 2012 NSW Government Heritage Volunteer Awards.

Notice: The closing date for nominations is Friday 12th October 2012.
Download the Nomination Form at the Heritage Branch web site: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritage/media/volunteerawards.htm

Volunteer Grants 2012

The Volunteer Grants 2012 Call for Applications period opened on Friday 1 June 2012 and closes on Wednesday 25 July 2012 at 5pm AEST.

Volunteer Grants 2012 recognises the valuable work of Australia’s volunteers. This initiative forms part of the Australian Government’s ongoing commitment to organisations whose volunteers assist disadvantaged communities and encourage inclusion of vulnerable people in community life.  Funding is available to eligible not-for-profit community organisations to help their volunteers and encourage volunteering. 

Volunteer Grants 2012 provides funding to purchase small equipment items to assist volunteers and contribute towards reimbursement of fuel costs, transport costs incurred by volunteers with disability who are unable to drive, training courses and background screening checks for volunteers. 

Volunteer Grants 2012 recognises the valuable work of Australia’s volunteers.  This initiative forms part of the Australian Government’s ongoing commitment to organisations whose volunteers assist disadvantaged communities and encourage inclusion of vulnerable people in community life. 

Funding of $16 million is available to support and encourage volunteering.  Eligible not-for-profit community organisations can apply for grants between $1,000 and $5,000 to:

• Purchase portable, tangible, small equipment items to help their volunteers
• Contribute to the reimbursement of fuel costs for their volunteers who use their own car to transport others to activities, to deliver food, assist with medical appointments or help people in need
• Contribute to the reimbursement of transport costs incurred by volunteers with disability, who are unable to drive
• Contribute to the costs of training courses and/or undertake background screening checks for their volunteers.

For more information, click here.