Collating stories of resilience
Project leaders uncovering stories of resilience from decades past in Northern Grampians Shire are looking for community input.
Northern Grampians Shire Council’s positive ageing team is collating stories about how past generations survived and thrived during difficult times.
The project is designed to help the community draw strength and inspiration from the courageous acts of the past during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The aim is by telling these stories and putting them into words, it will preserve the living history of the region for reflection by future generations.
Northern Grampians mayor Murray Emerson said the project would be of great benefit to contributors and others who accessed the finished booklet.
“By collecting and sharing these important memories and stories, we are ensuring the history of our region and our people are not forgotten,” he said.
“Things have been difficult for everyone the past few months but they have been difficult before and these stories will help show we can make it through anything as a community.”
Cr Emerson said stories could focus on any time in a person’s life where they overcame hard times during extraordinary circumstances, such as wartime, widespread illnesses, natural disasters, economic disasters or any other event or phenomenon that impacted their life and the community.
He said people keen to submit their story of resilience for the project could do so via electronic copy or by pen and paper.
“We ask that stories are limited to 1000 words for the sake of compiling them into a manageable format,” he said.
People must submit by July 31, 2020.
Cr Emerson said people could email contributions stories to hacc@ngshire.vic.gov.au and phone the council’s positive ageing team on 5358 0514 for further information.
“They can also drop off written stories to Stawell and St Arnaud shire offices via a letter-drop box at front doors, or post them to Positive Ageing, Northern Grampians Shire Council, PO Box 580, Stawell, VIC, 3380,” he said.
“The team is also keen to have a copy of any photographs or memorabilia associated with the story submissions. People can withdraw their submission at any point if they no longer wish to share their story.”