Members of the Bondi Surf Bathers’ Life Saving Club in training with a surf reel, 1939. Image courtesy of the BSBLSC.
From ancient titanosaur fossils at the Eromanga Natural History Museum in far West Queensland to the Cowra Japanese Garden in central New South Wales; from the Her Place Women’s Museum in Melbourne to the Western Australia Cricket Association, community organisations across the country have received Community Heritage Grants to help them care for nationally significant heritage collections.
The Bondi Surf Bathers Lifesaving Club has received its first grant through the program, allowing the world’s oldest surf lifesaving club to investigate how they can document and preserve their archival collection, including the original surf reel and the Grand Old Flag, carried by Bondi’s Lieutenant Colonel Les ‘Sambo’ Sampson during World War II.
Chair of the Museum Committee for the club, Tanya Jackson, said the organisation was thrilled to be a CHG recipient in 2021.
“This grant will enable the Club to establish our heritage collection as nationally significant, helping us to improve care of the collection, identify items for conservation activities, help bring the collection closer to being digitally accessible, and assist in putting the collection on display for the Australian public,” she said.
The club joins an ever-growing community of grant recipients who are caring for nationally significant heritage, including organisations that have received multiple grants as part of a staged process.
This year, the Lutheran Archives in Adelaide have reached the third funding stage through the program and will use their grant to digitise magnetic media including fragile reel-to-reel film. Elsewhere, the Outback Gondwana Foundation will use its second grant to bring a trained conservator to the Eromanga Natural History Museum, where staff and volunteers work to uncover and preserve mega and micro fauna from one of Australia’s richest palaeontological sites.
Aileen Weir, Chair of the Expert Panel making final recommendations on applications, noted the vital support that the CHG program provides to community groups across Australia.
‘We are delighted to support such a wide range of organisations, particularly small, volunteer managed community groups, who otherwise would have no access to qualified heritage practitioners and very limited funding to appropriately care for much-loved collections,’ Ms Weir said.
Since the Community Heritage Grants program began in 1994, more than 1500 projects have received grants totalling over $8 million, helping preserve significant Australian community history and heritage for future generations. Find out more about previous recipients here.
CHG is funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications (Office for the Arts); National Library of Australia; National Archives of Australia; National Film and Sound Archive and National Museum of Australia.
CHG contact
E: chg@nla.gov.au
Images and quotes for media can be accessed here.
Media contact
Max Grieve
Media Liaison, National Library of Australia
T: 02 6262 1527
M: 0401 226 697
E: media@nla.gov.au
Community Heritage Grant recipients
Australian Capital Territory
| Organisation | Project | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Canberra and District Historical Society Inc | Conservation of the Patience Australie Warle Collection at the Canberra and District Historical Society | $14,333 |
New South Wales
| Organisation | Project | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Albury City Council (Albury Library Museum) | Collection Management Activities - Indigenous Collections | $13,565 |
| Australian Railways Historical Society (ARHS) NSW Divison | Significance Assessment of the ARHS Archive | $ 6,619 |
| Blacktown City Council | Garage Graphix Collection Preservation Needs Assessment | $ 5,400 |
| Bondi Surf Bathers Life Saving Club (BSBLSC) | National Significance Assessment of the BSBLSC Archival Collection | $ 4,500 |
| Care Leavers Australasia Network | Conservation activities and collection management of Australia's Orphanage Museum storage material | $13,000 |
| City of Parramatta Council | Significance Assessment of the Local Studies Research Library | $ 4,500 |
| Clarence River Historical Society Inc | Preservation Needs Assessment for the Shaeffer House Collection | $ 5,995 |
| Cowra Japanese Garden and Cultural Centre Ltd | Preservation Needs Assessment of the Cowra Japanese Garden and Cultural Centre's Movable Cultural Heritage | $ 5,597 |
| Deniliquin and District Historical Society Inc | Deniliquin Historical Society Collection Management and Display | $14,058 |
| Fairfield City Libraries | Fairfield City Open Libraries Heritage Services Disaster Preparedness Plan | $ 8,000 |
| Liverpool City Council | Liverpool City Council Library and Museum Historical Digitisation Project | $13,636 |
| Moree Cultural Art Foundation | Collection Conservation Treatment of Bank Art Museum Moree Collection | $13,636 |
| Royal Far West | Archival materials for Royal Far West Collection | $ 2,890 |
| Royal Far West | Collections Care and Preventative Conservation Training | $ 3,100 |
| Society of Australian Genealogists | Society of Australian Genealogists Archive Significance Assessment | $ 4,500 |
| The Embroiderers' Guild New South Wales Incorporated | Preservations Needs Assessment for the NSW Embroiderers' Guild | $ 4,500 |
| Tranby National Indigenous Education and Training | Significance Assessment - valuing Tranby's iconic Indigenous social and political history collections | $ 4,500 |
| Wellington Historical Society Inc | Significance Assessment of Wellington Historical Society Collection | $ 5,927 |
Northern Territory
| Organisation | Project | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Anangu Uwankaraku Punu Aboriginal Corporation (trading as Maruku Arts) | Preservation Needs Assessment for the Maruku Arts Collection | $ 7,095 |
| Charles Darwin University Art Gallery | Significance Assessment of the Charles Darwin University Art Collection | $ 7,552 |
Queensland
| Organisation | Project | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Mount Isa City Library | Significance Assessment of the Mount Isa City Library Historical Collection | $ 5,945 |
| Museum and Gallery Services Queensland Ltd | Collection Skills Development Workshop Series - Queensland Outback Region | $13,630 |
| Outback Gondwana Foundation Limited | Preservation Needs Assessment of the Eromanga Natural History Museum Geoscience Collection | $ 5,300 |
| Queensland Maritime Museum Association | Preservation of Queensland Maritime Museum's Collection | $ 8,435 |
| The Royal Geographical Society of Queensland Ltd | Conservation and Collection Management Activities | $ 9,492 |
| University of Southern Queensland | Preservation Needs Assessment for The Chronicle Archives Collection | $ 4,500 |
South Australia
| Organisation | Project | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Australian Lutheran College | Conservation Treatment and Collection Storage for the Rare Books Collection | $ 1,747 |
| Lutheran Archives | Digitisation of magnetic media, including reel-to-reels, audio cassettes and videos | $13,636 |
| National Railway Museum Inc | Significance Assessment of the National Railway Museum Collection | $ 4,500 |
Tasmania
| Organisation | Project | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Kentish Council | Whitworth Pounder Gun Preservation Project | $ 6,170 |
Victoria
| Organisation | Project | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Australian Queer Archives Inc | Bill West Community Radio Collection Digitisation Project | $15,000 |
| Benalla Art Gallery | Significance Assessment of the Benalla Art Gallery Collection | $ 5,458 |
| Carmelite Memorial Library of Spirituality and Mariology | Significance Assessment of the Carmelite Library Rare Books Collection | $ 4,500 |
| Castlemaine Art Museum Ltd | Significance Assessment of the Castlemaine Art Museum Social History Collection | $ 4,500 |
| City of Boroondara | Preservation of Public Art in the Town Hall Gallery Collection | $ 7,190 |
| Greater Dandenong City Council | Significance Assessment and Caring For Collections Training Sessions | $ 1,800 |
| Her Place Women's Museum Australia | Significance Assessment of the Emily’s List Australia (ELA) archives held at Her Place Women's Museum Australia | $ 4,500 |
| Jewish Holocaust Centre | Keeping Holocaust survivor voices alive through the digitisation of audio-visual collections | $ 7,315 |
| Museum of Chinese Australian History | CatalogIt Training for Museums Staff | $ 1,000 |
| Nhill and District Historical Society Inc | Significance assessment of the Nhill and District Historical Society collection | $ 6,096 |
| Shrine of Remembrance | Crypt Casket Time Capsule Conservation | $ 7,578 |
| The Dax Centre Ltd | The Dax Centre Collection Management System (CMS) Software Upgrade | $13,500 |
| Trafalgar Holden Museum Incorporated | Preservation Needs Assessment of Trafalgar Holden Museum | $ 4,500 |
| William Angliss Institute | Significance Assessment of the Rare Australian Menu Collection | $ 4,500 |
Western Australia
| Organisation | Project | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| City of South Perth | Preservation Needs Assessment of the City of South Perth Art Collection | $ 4,500 |
| Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre | Building Cultural Archives with the next generation | $13,630 |
| Mount Lawley Society | Significance Assessment for the Mount Lawley Collection | $ 4,950 |
| Perth Observatory Volunteer Group | Improvements to archival storage microclimate, storage medium and knowledge of documents at risk | $10,280 |
| Town of Claremont - Claremont Museum | Oral History Digitisation | $ 6,574 |
| The Perth Diocesan Trustees | Preservation, Digitisation and Disaster Recovery for the Anglican Diocese of Perth Archive | $13,636 |
| The Royal Western Australian Historical Society Inc | Preservation Needs Assessment of artefacts and artworks | $ 4,500 |
| Western Australian Cricket Association (WACA) | Digitisation of WACA archives | $ 8,811 |
