The National Library of Australia (NLA) is calling for applications for their 2023 Community Heritage Grants. The grants of up to $20,000 are available to community groups such as libraries, archives, museums, genealogical and historical societies, multicultural and Indigenous groups around the country to help preserve locally owned, but nationally significant collections of materials that are publicly accessible including artifacts, letters, diaries, maps, photographs, and audio visual material.

The types of projects supported include:
– significance assessments of collections
– preservation needs assessments of collections
– conservation activities and collection management, and
– training workshops.

Run annually since 1994, the program has provided more than $8.4 million dollars in funding to over 1,600 projects across Australia.

APPLICATIONS
Applications MUST be made online, no mailed or emailed applications/documentation will be accepted. You can find all the details regarding application guidelines, and the application form on their website.

THE DEADLINE
Applications for new applicants will close on Monday, 8 May 2023
Applications for those who have recently completed a Community Heritage Grant project and are applying for the next stage will close on Thursday, 1 June 2023
Applications for training projects will close on Thursday, 1 June 2023

MORE INFORMATION
If you would like to discuss your project or have any queries, please email the CHG Program Team at chg@nla.gov.au.

Women’s History Month is a month that highlights the contributions of women to events in history and society. Celebrated around the world during March, it corresponds with International Women’s Day which is held on March 8th.

“One this day [in the US] in 1987, Congress passed a resolution declaring March as Women’s History Month. This month, we celebrate the women who fought, took risks, and stood up for what was right. We celebrate their legacy, and continue to fight.”

One thing does seem to be a recurring trait – and that is that women’s history doesn’t get written about nearly enough. They were often the backbone of not only a family, but society itself. They lived, they worked, they got into trouble, they struggled, they triumphed, they were inspirational. Every woman has a story. They helped make history!

So let’s do what we can to recount some of their stories and make sure they are not forgotten.

HOW WILL YOU REMEMBER YOUR FEMALE ANCESTORS?
Need some ideas?

• how about sharing some old family photos of a female ancestor, and telling a story about them
• what about doing an oral histry recording of your memories of your mum, grandma, aunts etc. (or another female in the family)
• if you’re a blogger, tell a story about an amazing female in your family, or if you are more into local history, some females from the local community
• do you have an heirloom or two that are they connected to family members? Share that story, so family knows the significance of them item
• spend the month doing research so you can give that “Mrs Smith” or “Mrs Tucker” from your family tree a name
• if you’re into crafts you might want to sew, quilt, crossstitch, scrapbook or anything else similar, a project that will honour the females in your family

RESEARCH THEM …
There’s a whole bunch of titles, that relate to finding your female ancestors, an below I’ve listed just a few of them. Click here for more.

• Finding Florence, Maude, Matilda, Rose: Researching and Writing Women into Family History
• Fair Game: Australia’s First Immigrant Women
• Nurses and Midwives in Australian History: A Guide to Historical Sources
• Single and Free: Female Migration to Australia 1833-1837
• The Tin Ticket: The Heroic Journey of Australia’s Convict Women
• Tracing Your Female Ancestors: A Guide for Family Historians
• Van Diemen’s Women: A History of Transportation to Tasmania
• Women’s Lives: Researching Women’s Social History 1800-1939

SHARE THEM …
If you’re on social media, why not share photos of your female ancestors. Various archival organisations are posting a photo from their collection on Facebook, highlighting one woman from history each day. And don’t forget to hashtag it: #WomensHistoryMonth

WHO’S UP FOR A BLOG CHALLENGE?

Gena from Gena’s Genealogy has created a blog challenge for Women’s History Month. Her theme this year is “Her Life in 31 Objects”, so follow along to get inspiration, and feel free join in if you wish. I really do love this idea, but am not organised enough at present to participate, but I may even do it at a later time.

“We’re all immortal, as long as our stories are told.”
― Elizabeth Hunter, The Scribe

“Once in memory, always in history.”
― Levi Ramos

#WomensHistoryMonth

From time to time I come across all sorts of interesting history and/or genealogy related tidbits that I want to share with you, so I’ve collected them together to make up a Snippets post.

These aren’t meant to be comprehensive, but rather they are just bits that I’ve found and wanted to share.

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Call for expressions of interest for new editor/s of the Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society
The Council of the RAHS is seeking expressions of interest for the position of editor of the Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society (JRAHS). The current editor Adjunct Associate Professor Carol Liston AO and our proof reader Mrs Joy Hughes are stepping down after many years of distinguished services in their respective roles. [via their email newsletter]

Billionaire fails in bid to partially demolish historic goods shed in Victoria
A $750 million twin office tower project has been turned down in a move by Heritage Victoria to preserve the state’s largest and most architecturally elaborate 19th century railway goods building. [via The Age]

New Records at Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages
New records alert!  The Queensland Registry now has 107,603 new records available to search on their BDMs website. These include BDMs from the following years: 1923 Births, 1948 Marriages, 1993 Deaths. Start searching today! www.qld.gov.au/familyhistory [via Facebook post]

Labour History Society South Australia
Did you know that there is a society dedicated to the history of labouring in South Australia? No, nor did I until I found it mentioned on a website. So if you’re interested be sure to get in touch with them, or if you’re local, pop along to one of their meetings. [via Experience Adelaide site]

41,000 Burials for the ‘Adelaide Plains’
Recently the Adelaide Northern Districts Family History Group (ANDFHG) added the Adelaide Plains Burial Register to their records. A searchable (onsite) database consisting of some 41,000 names for Burials across the whole of the Adelaide Plains. It includes many of the Burials not listed in the Council districts, from the smaller lesser-known cemeteries. [via their email newsletter]

Happy 167th Birthday to the State Library Victoria
On February 2023, we celebrate another Library birthday. At 3pm #OnThisDay in 1856, State Library Victoria (then known as the Melbourne Public Library) opened its doors for the very first time. Upon opening, the Library was one of the first free public libraries in the world with a humble 3000 books in the collection. While the Library has remained on the same two-acre allotment since 1856, the structure you see today is made up of around 24 individual buildings that have changed dramatically over the years. You can learn more about their history here. [via Facebook post]

The History Trust of South Australia has a new home
The History Trust of South Australia is delighted to announce our new home at 233 North Terrace, ‘Security House’! You can find them Level 2, 233 North Terrace, from May this year. They say “we are grateful to our community for being so patient with us throughout this transitional period; we welcome you into our new home”. [via Facebook post]

Keith Conlon to leave state heritage council after criticising WCH site decision
Keith Conlon is stepping down from the state heritage council after publicly sharing disapproval of the new Women’s and Children’s Hospital project. The state government on Wednesday said Mr Conlon, 78, would leave the position in March. It comes after Mr Conlon criticism of the state government’s decision to build part of the new Women’s and Children’s Hospital on a site consisting of parklands at the heritage-listed Thebarton Police Barracks, near the Old Adelaide Gaol. The barracks will be torn down to make room for the new hospital, which will cost up to $3.2bn. “When we did get the chance to oppose it, it was all too late,” he told The Advertiser. “It makes you concerned for the future of state heritage.” [via The Advertiser, Saturday, 11 February 2023]

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If you have any Australian genealogy and/or history related news that you’d like me to share, please feel free to send me an email with the info, and I’ll put it in my next Snippets update.  

For any Australian historian (family, local, or social historian) Trove is the ultimate GO-TO site. It is the National Library of Australia’s site, which is accessed by around 20 million people every year, and contains about six billion (that’s right BILLION) digital items, including news­papers, magazines, photographs, journals, parliamentary papers and more … and it’s all FREE!!

However due to huge funding cuts over a number of years, and the fact that Federal funding for the National Library of Australia’s digital resource ends in June 2023, means that Trove could cease operations, or at least in its current form.

What if there was no Trove?
But to us researchers, a life without Trove is as unthinkable as life without Google.

This is Australia’s primary institution, the one that provides access to not only what the National Library of Australia itself holds, but access to holdings from 900 or so other Australian institutions. This is portal for Australia’s heritage, and yet depite it being used on a globa scale, is being treated as unimportant.

What can we do?
We have been asked to use our voice (well technically fingers), to sign a petition, and spread the word far and wide. But there is a time limit … the petition date is 22 February 2023. So we don’t have much time.

There was a Change.org petition for this topic, but it’s been said that the government only acts on “official” petitions. So another one was started by the same person, and this official petition will be presented to parliament. So if you care about access to Australia’s history, even if you don’t use Trove, please take a few moments to sign the petition.

SIGN THE PETITION NOW

And if you want to read more about what the organisations are saying, here are links to a number of articles about it:

• Online resource Trove is due to run out of government funding in six months, National Library of Australia warns
• Trove’s funding runs out in July 2023 – it’s time for a radical overhaul
• Trove in trouble: why does it cost money to keep the resource online?
• National Library’s digital archive Trove under threat
• Trove thrown overboard amid funding cuts
• National Library’s treasure Trove under threat from budget cuts
• National Library of Australia’s free digital archives may be forced to close without funding
• Trove’s funding is under threat. It’s time for an overhaul
• Speak up for Trove

[banner graphic used with permission from GenealogySA]