Bacchus Marsh Community Bank Supports Local History and Heritage
Ian Prince presents a $7,000 grant to members of the Society’s Executive.
(left to right), Cathy Pevitt (Vice-President), Chris Bronchinetti (President), Barb McMillan (Secretary), Bruce Carboon (Treasurer), Ian Prince (Manager BMCB). Photograph courtesy of Bacchus Marsh and Community Bank.
A big thank you to the Bacchus Marsh Community Bank for the very generous Grant of $7,000. This will enable us to have the Bacchus Marsh Express newspapers from 1946 to 1954 digitised and placed on the National Library of Australia (NLA) TROVE Website.
Why only to 1954? The editions from 1955 remain under copyright to Fairfax Media.
Some very forward thinking Society Members all those years ago saved the Express newspapers. This began 30 years of projects for the Society and the Mona Denny (Bacchus) Memorial Trust. The Trust purchased the Express newspapers and had them bound in yearly books.
Bound copies of the Express Newspaper founded in 1866 in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, Australia – Courtesy Bacchus Marsh and District Historical Society Inc. Collection
After the binding was completed, Gwyn Moore (deceased Life Member of the Society), took them weekly to the State Library of Victoria to have them copied to microfilm. This was a long term commitment by the Society to preserve the Express from 1866 to 1986.
The Express gets digitised on TROVE
As part of the 100th Anniversary of the Great War the Australian Government had many early Australian newspapers digitised and placed online. In this project they digitised the Express from 1866 to 1918 using the microfilm and placing it online. In addition to this, they also used Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to allow searching of the digital files using text. The consequences were ground breaking for researchers. It provided a highly valued and well utilised research tool for everyone. Access was also free!
Public Records Office of Victoria Grant
The Society received a Public Records of Victoria (PRoV) Grant in 2018/19 to digitised the Express from 1919 to 1945 online. Now with this new grant from the Bacchus Marsh Community Bank we will be able to digitise the Express from 1946 to 1954 and have it all online by early 2021.
Extending digitisation of the Bacchus Marsh Express will strengthen the Bacchus Marsh and District Historical Society Inc’s. ability to effectively support individuals and community groups with research. It strengthens identity and connection within our community.