Historical Collections survey launched
Explore Councils by state
Residents are being invited to have their say on the future of the Ballarat Town Hall’s historical collection and the Ballarat Library’s Australiana Research Collection.
An assessment of both collections has been funded by the National Library of Australia to establish their significance and guide their future management and care.
As part of this assessment, a survey is being undertaken to ensure the voices of local community members and stakeholders are heard.
The Ballarat Town Hall historical collection includes approximately 6500 individual items, including written records, photographs, portraits, objects, furniture, maps and more documenting both the municipality and community’s history since the 1850s.
Most of the records have remained at the Town Hall since they were written by the then Town Clerk, along with items of furniture original to the building, and artworks and framed images that have hung on its walls for many years.
However, all other items in the collection are only accessible by request to the City of Ballarat and are little-known by most community members.
The Australiana Research Collection contains approximately 13,000 individual items, including books, photographs, glass slides, framed images, rare newspapers, letters, maps and more spanning over 150 years and acquired since the 1950s for their local research potential.
Most of this collection originated from the former Ballarat East Public Library’s collection, established in 1862 in Barkly Street.
This whole collection is accessible at the Ballarat Library during open hours.
The survey seeks to understand to what extent participants know about and access the collections, how much they value them, would like to see their ongoing management change and whether they enjoy heritage and cultural experiences generally.
The significance assessment will be completed by November 2018.
The survey can be found at mysay.ballarat.vic.gov.au until Monday 1 October 2018.
All survey participants will go into a draw to win double passes to the Art Gallery of Ballarat’s upcoming Into Light exhibition of French masterworks.