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Speech to Launch CD ROM
by Michael Greenham
Portland, 18 April 2001
Thank you for the introduction Cr White, and thank you to Mr Mildenhall for making the trip on behalf of the Victorian Government. Welcome also to representatives of our public history institutions especially Daniel Wilksch, Council officers and Guests including members of the Glenelg Shire Arts Advisory Board and History House who continue to be great supporters of the Vern McCallum Collection.
Before inviting Vern McCallum to present to the State, the CD Rom of the 'Vern McCallum Collection', I would like to pose three questions, then present my answers for your consideration.
1 Why preserve old photos?
2 Why should governments fund non-government groups to preserve local history?
3 Why should funding for the Vern McCallum Collection continue?Why preserve old photos?
A student recently visited the Museum of Sport at the MCG in Melbourne and was intently studying a particular photo; an elderly man looked over his shoulder and said ' ah yes, Woodfull and Ponsford - now they were some batsmen young man'. 'Who' was the reply, 'I'm not looking at the batsman, never played cricket really, I'm doing a thesis on the different styles of attire of the wealthy and poor during the Depression Period and whether that contributed to feelings of class distinction and prejudice'.
Now as a keen historian I should be able to quote the source of that story and have noted the date of the event. Whoops…but don't let that good story get in the way of the facts.
We do not know the reasons why photos will be important to future generations, but they will be. And because there is no formulae to decide on importance, as many as possible have to be preserved.
To his great credit Vern McCallum recognised these facts 30 years ago. When nobody else was interested he intercepted photos destined for: local tips, backyard burnings, slow death by vermin, being torn in family squabbles, and/or a life of perpetual limbo without identification. A collection of one negative from Digby, has now become 8000 negatives showing the people, places and events of south-west Victoria between 1860 and 1960.
Why should governments fund non-government groups to preserve local history?
Five years ago the Dartmoor Museum organised a day for locals to bring their old photos in for Vern to copy. People came from everywhere; we could not write or copy fast enough. They held their photos till their turn came: talking, looking, sharing… …and then as they filed out they thanked us for our interest! We have repeated that process many times since, and we would to thank all the groups and individuals over many years who have lent their original photos for copying and helped with the task of identification .We hope they are pleased with the outcome.
Governments need to fund local groups to preserve local history because it takes enormous time and substantial passion to do so - to make contacts, to build up trust, and to acquire local knowledge. There is a role for professional advisory input to the preservation process though. And here I would like to recognise the series of seminars the Public Records Office and Arts Victoria conduct in regional Victoria on conservation, cataloguing and other issues associated with recording our past.
Oh, I nearly forgot, for governments to fund non-government bodies, it is cost effective! The Local History Grant we received of $7500 would have covered the first few weeks of a government funded project historian. I have not attempted to add up the hours Geoff Corner worked on digitalising the images for the CD ROM project. And those hours do not include those spent on researching the captions! Governments - 'good help does come cheap'.
Why should funding for the Vern McCallum Collection continue?
The Museum gratefully acknowledges the support for the Collection by the State Government through the Community Support Fund. Over the last few years funding has also been forthcoming from the Glenelg Shire through the Arts Advisory Board and Discovery Coast and Hinterland Tourism, to assist with public exhibitions.
Since last year's public exhibition of portion of the Collection, another 1500 negatives have been added to it. And the CD ROM to be presented today only has 1000 images on it, and many of the captions are redundant already as further information is gleaned about the images. This is just Version 1.1 in the best traditions of computer-related materials. The process of preservation is ongoing. It is also an expensive passion in terms of time and money, and those associated with the project will continue to request financial support for this wide-ranging and eminently worthy task.
So in closing, I believe: old photos are a precious window to our past, governments can trust, and should fund, non-government bodies to carry out the task of heritage preservation of local history, and while the 'Vern McCallum Collection' is 30 years old it is just in its infancy in what it can achieve for the public of Victoria.
I would like to call on Vern McCallum to present the CD ROM of 1000 thumbnails from the 'Vern McCallum Collection' to the State heritage - copies are to go the Victorian Government [the Public Records Office and State Library] represented by Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier Bill Mildenhall and to the Glenelg Shire [History House] represented by Ann Grant.
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