History data will be more accessible
Information about material held in Gippsland museums, historical societies and the Gippsland and Regional Studies Collection at Federation University, is about to become available for the first time.
A new database of more than 82,000 records can now be checked by visitors to the GRSC, plus participating historical societies at Warragul, Traralgon and Leongatha on their open days.
The information includes descriptions of photographs held and early records to help people researching their own families. Five years in the making, the others collections involved are Old Gippstown, Old Brown Coal Mine Museum, Walhalla Heritage League and historical societies and groups at Morwell, Moe, Drouin, Rosedale, Yarram, Sale, Heyfield, Maffra, Stratford and Briagolong.
The listing of early Gippsland records held at the Gippsland Maritime Museum at Port Albert is especially significant.
Co-convenor of the Gippsland Cataloguing Network Linda Barraclough which compiled the database, is particularly excited. “When we started, we thought if we got 50,000 records, we would have been over the moon.
“We ended up with over 82,000, and are now working towards adding more. This means people with families at Stratford can now check the holdings at Warragul, Traralgon or Leongatha, and then make plans to see the material”.
The main drive for the project was to make information available for researchers at Federation University, who have also made the catalogues from the GRSC available.
Some of this material is already accessible on the university library online catalogue, but a significant portion is not.
The GRSC is a major partner in the process, making access to the database possible for the public on Mondays from 1pm to 5pm and Thursday from 9am to 1pm. Appointments are possible at other times if staff are available.
One early user of the database has been Jan Jones, who is undertaking PhD research on Gippsland and Melbourne midwives after 1900.
“The information in the collections across much of Gippsland was amazing”, she said. “I am still working my way through it, and will be visiting many of the collections as a result. I will be forearmed with advance knowledge of what I am looking for, which makes it so much easier”.
Harvey Hutchison of the Walhalla Heritage League was also strongly supportive of the database.
“We only have a small proportion of our information available on there as yet, but will be adding more. The advantage for us is that we now have a much better idea on what other collections hold about Walhalla. There are some fascinating results coming up.” he said.